Of Dreams and Nightmares
by Sui Megami
Summary: The real test now begins! Inuyasha alone won't be enough to raise an army in the distorted world. Where all can Kagome pull help from and even when the sum of Japans remaining forces, can they bring down Naraku's castle? Chapter eight up!
1. Kawaru and Devani

Kitty-chan: Yo! I finally got my butt into gear andcame up with an idea for anInuyasha story with some potential. I'm sorry about the Immortal's Riddle fiasco. I claim temporary insanity! Anywhosit... I hope you like dissa story. I wrote it with the help of my sis... who has no account... or wait... oh nevermind. I'll put a link to her deviant art page in here. She's already drawn pics of Kawaru and Dev! Mou kawaii! Uhh... yeah... Enjoy! Oh! Yeah! I don't own Inuyasha or the gang. They are property of VIZ and Takahashi Rumiko-sama. Woopee! Have fun!

(Guess what... betcha can't guess... I'm hyper.)

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"Inuyasha! OSUWARI!" 

The infuriated and quite familiar yell of Higurashi Kagome rang through the village and a small part of the surrounding forest. A loud thump and some yelling immediately followed, causing every villager within hearing range to turn and stare at the commotion caused by a young woman in a skimpy green kimono, who was hovering over a silver-haired creature in red. The red-clothed one groaned and managed to yank his face from the earth. He refrained from teaching the earth a bit of his more colorful language, lest he provoke another angry incantation from Kagome. He did, however, permit himself to sit up and growl at her, muttering quiet curses under his breath.

"What the hell was that for?" He demanded irately, concluding his curses to the wind.

"I'm so sorry!" Kagome was declaring to the villager who had, before Kagome's outburst, been held tightly in Inuyasha's clawed grip. The villager said nothing, giving her an odd stare, and took off toward his house. Kagome rounded on Inuyasha as Miroku began to wander off in a random direction, no doubt following a woman who had caught his eye. Inuyasha watched as Sango shot a glare at his back and followed. "What do you expect, Inuyasha? You were hurting the poor guy!"

"I was just trying to get information on the Sacred Jewel Shard!" Inuyasha spat harshly.

Shippo shook his head from Kagome's bike as the girl responded. "There are other ways of getting information than lifting the poor guy up by the front of his kimono and growling in his face!"

"It's pretty effective if he doesn't talk."Inuyasha growled, standing and gently beating the dust from his clothes.

Kagome sighed, giving her eyes a roll as Shippo hopped off the bike and wandered over to stand next to her. "You're hopeless." She sighed.

"Hey…" Shippo cast his green gaze about the area. "Where'd Sango and Miroku go?"

"HOUSHI-SAMA!" They heard a loud scream from off to the right suddenly.

"A te-te-te-te-te-te-te-te!" Miroku's pain-filled yelps preceded the sight of Sango pulling Miroku toward them by the ear.

Kagome trotted over and raised an eyebrow at Sango. "What happened now?"

Sango released Miroku's ear and crossed her arms, giving the monk a glare. "He got info on the demon from a woman, then asked his usual question."

Kagome glared at Miroku, assuming her match-making duties, punishing him for flirting with a non-Sango woman. "Anyway… what did you find out, Miroku-sama?"

Miroku rubbed his ear a bit before answering. He had a right to nurse his wound. He had gone through pains to get this info (courtesy of Sango)! "The demon with a Jewel Shard is a giant snake demon. He lives in the central mountain there." Miroku motioned to the Mountain range south of the village. "He calls himself Hebigami. He's also a man-eater, which is what makes him such a problem to the village. He comes down here every week for a meal. That's about it. According to the woman I talked to… he should be down here tomorrow night. Should we wait until he comes down here for his normal feed, or should we go get it now? We still have plenty of time until sundown."

"Let's go get it!" Inuyasha cried excitedly, cracking his knuckles. "There's a Jewel Shard up there and I want to get moving!"

"There's no rush, really." Miroku waved his hand. "We've been given lodgings for the night at the Headman's house."

Shippo groaned. "Typical Miroku." He gave Miroku a dull glance. "Conned your way into another mansion, did you?"

Miroku placed his cursed hand on his hip and bent over to give Shippo a glare. "And what, may I ask, is that supposed to mean? I'll have you know that the Headman offered to give us lodgings as partial payment for slaying the demon."

"_Partial_?" Sango tossed her hip and crossed her arms. "And what is the other part of the payment… money?" Miroku shrugged. "And why did he offer to give us so much for exterminating the one demon?"

Miroku scratched the back of his head. "Oh… I dunno. Maybe Hebigami is a real problem?"

"You blackmailed him into it, didn't you?" Kagome and Shippo guessed in unison. Miroku growled at them and sighed.

"Why bother stopping? We could just go and get the demon." Inuyasha suggested again.

"I'm hungry though." Shippo added, tugging on Kagome's sock.

"Me too." Kagome agreed. "Why don't we get some lunch, then we can get to work on taking care of Hebigami. Come to think of it, waiting until tomorrow probably wouldn't be a good idea. Too many villagers would get in the way and could get hurt."

Miroku nodded. "Alright then. We can stop at the headman's for lunch." He suggested proudly. The group sighed and followed the monk.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"The demonic energy is getting stronger. It's this way." Sango directed, her voice muffled some by her poison-shielding mask.

"Be carefull, everyone. Snake demons are tricky creatures. They move swiftly, and they can be hard to see once they get moving." Miroku wanred, clutching his staff tightly, his eyes darting around.

"We'll be fine. As long as Kagome can see the shard in its body, we'll know where it is." Inuyasha reminded them.

"Inuyasha! In front of you!" Kagome suddenly screamed as she spotted the familiar glimmer shoot toward the half-demon.

Inuyasha jumped away as the demon's large fangs came down on the air he had just previously occupied. Tetsusaiga leapt from its hilt and into its master's hand, transforming into it's full and glorious fang state to chrage down at the demon's head. The blade whistled its battle cry, but struck nothing as the snake arched its back and threw its head upwards. It opened its jaws and an almost unbearable screeching hiss erupted from its throat. Inuyasha landed in front of Kagome, his fists clenching tight about the hilt of his sword. "So… you're Hebigami, are you?"

The snake said nothing. Weather it simply did not think a mere half-demon worthy of an answer, or it could not speak at all, one could not tell. Though, at this point weather it could speak or not really wasn't in question. It launched its head straight at him, mouth open and fangs extended, ready to inject a fatal amount of poison into anything they entered. Inuyasha turned slightly, scooped Kagome into his free arm, and jumped out of the snake's path. "Kagome, where's the jewel shard?"

Kagome's eyes began at the snake's tail and slowly wandered up its body, searching for the familiar glint. As her eyes settled on its head she began to stare at the large crest that traveled from the bridge of what would be its nose to the back of its head. "There! Inside the crest of its head! The jewel shard's there!" Kagome motioned to it with her finger as Inuyasha landed and set her on her feet.

"Got it." Inuyasha nodded.

"Hiraikotsu!" Sango yelled, running around to the back of the demon and launching her giant boomerang at it. The edge of the weapon struck its neck, creating a sizeable gash. The snake turned its full attention to her and lurched foreward, it's fangs poised to strike once again.

"Sango!" Miroku was immediately between the snake and the demon slayer, gripping the rosary around his wrist. "Try and eat this!" He ripped the rosary away, revealing his most deadly weapon. "Kazaana!" The black hole opened and began to pull in everything around it, focusing its deadly grasp on the demon snake. The snake fought the winds with all its might, but the hell-hole had the creature in its crushing grip. It wouldn't be long before it pulled it into its crushing oblivion.

But the snake had other plans. It lashed its tail out and slammed the tip of it into Miroku's side, sending him flying off to the side as he hastily began to rewrap his kazaana. "Houshi-sama!" Sango cried in a panic as he sucessfully sealed his hand, but was thrown right into a nearby tree. Miroku yelped as he was hit, and then was silenced by the sickening crack of his head against the solid wood. Sango glared at the snake for a moment, before darting to grab her weapon. The snake met her half-way, arching it's back once again, ready to deliver a showy final blow.

"You shouldn't have looked away, you worm!" Inuyasha cried, sending the blade down into the snake's head, then following through with the cut to cleave the snake neatly in half.

Kagome ran over, smiling. "Nice job, Inuyasha." She complimanted, stooping down to where the demon's head lay. She paused, not wanting to put her hand anywhere near the disgusting corpse. After a moment, Inuyasha sensed her discomfort and, rolling his eyes, shoved his sword into the crest of the snake one last time, sending the jewel flying out of the flesh, and onto the ground before Kagome. Kagome knelt down and picked the shard up, her touch triggering the jewel to shine with a brilliant and pure light purple glow.

"Houshi-sama?" Sango was whispering as Inuyasha and Kagome approached. Sango was bent over his torso, one hand on his shoulder, attempting to shake him back into consciousness. "Houshi-sama… wake up… are you alright?"

"That was a pretty hard hit he took." Kagome voiced, kneeling beside the unconscious monk and the demon slayer.

"You think he'll be alright?" Sango inquired to no one in particular as Shippo trotted over from his spectator seat in the bushes.

Kagome smiled, matchmaking thoughts filling her head again. "I'm sure he'll be fine. Don't worry Sango."

Inuyasha shrugged. "He just got whacked a little bit. What's the big deal? It's not as if none of us have ever been sent flying."

"True. So much has happened to us since we started doing this that not much can phase us anymore, if you think about it. The demon hunts may not have gotten more interesting, but at least they've gotten more predictable." Sango agreed. Her attention shot to Miroku as he groaned. "Houshi-sama? Are you alright?"

Miroku's deep green eyes slowly opened and focused not on Sango, but something even closer to his face. His eyes widened and he bit back a cry of surprise. Sango tensed. "What's wrong Houshi-sama?" She half expected to feel his gloved hand begin to stroke her rear, as he had done before, but he reamained still, hands and all, as he stared at something directly in front of his face. To Sango, however, there was nothing to be seen.

Miroku was a t a loss for words as he stared at the tiny young woman yelling in his face. "Yo!" She cried, waving her arms and legs, her almost invisible wings beating madly behind her. "Can you see me, Houshi? Can you hear me? Hello?"

"Uh…" Miroku stuttered, still trying to find a way to answer the odd creature that had found a way to completely suck up his attemtion. "A… a… fairy?"

Sango stared at him for a moment before looking to Kagome. "Then again… maybe not so predictable." She poked him in the temple. "Wake up, Houshi-sama."

Miroku worked himself onto his elbows, then sat up fully, still staring at the small creature in front of his face. "You talking to me?" He inquired, feeling rather silly to be speaking to such a small creature that he wasn't even sure really existed. Perhaps she was just a bit of sleep hanging over him from the contact with the tree.

She rolled her eyes and groaned. "No… I'm talking to the woman behind you, even though I'm in your face. Of course I'm talking to you, Houshi!" She paused and sighed. "I'll ignore the fairy gag, but it's lucky that I found you. You're the first holy man I've met in 140 years that's powerful enough to see me."

Miroku looked around at the odd looks Sango, Inuyasha, and Shippo were giving him. He then looked back at her and poked her, drawing an agrivated yelp from her throat. "What was that for?" She demanded, shoving his hand away.

Yep… she was real. He could feel her warmth when he touched her. As the idea of her reality settled in, her earlier words registered. He motioned to the others. "You mean they can't see you?"

She shrugged. "Not unless they're pretty powerful and practiced in the holy arts."

"Miroku… what the hell are you talking about?" Inuyasha demanded slowly, sheathing his sword.

"Miroku-sama… what's that little purple thing in front of your face?" Kagome whispered.

Miroku looked at her, then pointed at the small fairy-like creature. "You mean, you can see her too?"

"Yeah. What is it?" Kagome approached and cautiously pressed her finger to the small fairy's back.

"See what? There's nothing there." Shippo informed them matter-of-factly, staring at the spot indicated by Kagome.

The fairy shoved Kagome's finger away. "Stop it with the poking! And by the way, I'm not an it! I'm a woman!"

"You're the smallest woman I've ever seen." Miroku commented, scratching his head. _And the strangest._ He kept that thought to himself. He had never seen a woman dressed as she. She had a piece of cloth wrapped around her upper torso to serve as a shirt, while the sleeves were made up of fluffy purple material which covered her shoulders and nothing more. Her pants were long and baggy, colored the same color as her fluffy sleeves. Her long blackish-blue hair was pulled into a loose ponytail, and the ribbon which held it hung down to her feet. As soon as the comment was out of his mouth, she flew up to his nose and began a lecture about how size does not mean everything.

"I don't see any small woman." Inuyasha growled. "Who the hell are you two talking to?"

"You mean… the others can't see you?" Kagome asked, looking over at Inuyasha.

The fairy paused in her lecture and shrugged. "No. Only those with unusually strong spiritual powers can see and hear me. Like Monks, Priests, and Priestesses."

"I see." Miroku looked over at Sango, who was looking at both Miroku and Kagome like they had suddenly sprouted a new head each. "There's a little fairy over here."

"That's it!" The small girl cried. "I let it go last time, but not twice! I am not a fairy! I'm a time sprite for your information!"

Miroku ducked away from her a bit and corrected himself. "Ok ok… she's not a fairy… she's a time sprite. She says only people with unuaually strong spiritual powers can see her."

"Oh really…?" Inuyasha folded his arms and sighed. He didn't really have a choice but to believe what he was saying. After all, Miroku and Kagome had both reacted to something. "What does she want?"

Miroku looked to the sprite to find her staring right at the hanyou. "Do you…" she began, trailing off. _He looks like the guy Kawaru was talking about. Long silver hair and small dog ears on the top of his head. But…_ "Nevermind. My name is Devani. But, you can call me Dev. Everyone else does, at least they would if I knew anybody. I just wanted to know if you all could help me with something."

Kagome paused at her name for a moment, but then smiled. "Sure. What can we help you with?"

Miroku leaned foreward and put his hand on Kagome's shoulder. "Not a good idea, Kagome. You can't just offer to help any demon that comes along."

"Hey! I'm not a demon! I'm a time sprite!" Dev cried indignantly.

"Whatever you are, we don't know if you can be trusted." Miroku gave Dev a stare.

"That's cold." Dev crossed her arms and turned away.

"In this day and age, Dev… that's how things are. With all the wars going on, anyone is subject to suspicion."

"Fine." Dev sighed. _He's a smart one, that Houshi. He's cool. I like him. But that still leaves the problem with getting them to help me with Kawaru. If that dog-guy really is Kawaru's Inu no Nichan, I'll have to rely on his memory. That is… if he remembers that long ago._ "Houshi. That dog-guy with the ears. What's his name?"

"Inuyasha. Why do you need to know?"

Inuyasha's ears perked up at the sound of his name. "Huh? Why do I need to know what? I haven't said anything."

Sango leaned over. "I think he was talking to the fairy."

"TIME SPRITE!" Dev screeched, though she knew Sango couldn't hear her. Miroku rolled his eyes. Dev looked at him and composed herself. _So it _is_ Inuyasha. Japan has a lot of people in it, but I can't imagine too many people with _that_ name._ "Ask him for me… has he ever met a dream demon? Like… a long time ago?"

Miroku paused before relaying the message. Inuyasha pondered for a long moment. "Dream demon? Don't think so. I can't seem to remember one."

Dev thought for a moment. "What about… Kawaru. Do you recognize the name Kawaru at all?"

Miroku looked back at Inuyasha. "Does the name Kawaru mean anything to you?"

Inuyasha stopped. "Kawaru..?" Yes… the name was familiar… but it was from a long time ago. So long ago, the memories had become blurred. "That name does sound incredibly familiar… but it was from a long time ago. It was… before being sealed… before meeting Kikyo… something about some little boy…URG! I can't remember!" He rubbed his fist into his hair.

"Before Kikyo…? You make her sound like another girlfriend of yours." Kagome laughed lightly. She then paused. "Is she?"

"I don't know! I can't remember who the heck she is! But I do know that I was with her… or I knew her… for a long time. Anyway… what about her?"

"She's not too far off. She's been sealed inside a rock since a few years since you two got separated. I've just been trying to help get her out. I've tried a few times, but I'm just too small. And being a time sprite, I can't do much in the way of blowing a rock apart. It's been hard to find a person who can even hear or see me and not think they're insane. I think you guys didn't think you were losing it since there were two of you." She smiled. "Hard to find two unusually powerful people practiced in the holy arts in one group, huh?"

Miroku relayed her speech and Inuyasha immediately said, "Take me to her then." He still couldn't remember who she was, but he knew he needed to find out. This person had been somewhat close to him… the very first person to ever extend a hand of friendship to him, disregarding the pair of ears atop his head that identified him as half-breed. She was special. Unknown to him, but special.

"But Inuyasha!" Shippo protested. "It's an unknown demon! This could be a trap planted by Naraku! We could be walking right into it!"

"I doubt it, Shippo. Naraku's trickier than that. Besides, if the fairy thing had made a deal with Naraku, she would've had to meet with him, right?" Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. Miroku glanced cautiously over at Dev, whom was seething at being called a fairy again. He swore he saw steam billowing from her ears and he moved a few paces away, just in case the small sprite were to burst from frustration. "If she had met with Naraku, I'd smell traces of his scent on her, and I don't smell the least bit of him." Inuyasha shook his head and turned to Miroku. "Let's go."

"But… Inuyasha…" Sango voiced.

"Oh, calm down. You don't have to come if you don't want to." He turned once again to Miroku. "Lead the way. I can't see the fairy thing, so I'll follow you." Miroku suddenly grabbed the air in front of Inuyasha's face and pulled it toward him.

"Dev, calm yourself." Miroku commanded through gritted teeth as Dev struggled to get out of his hand, her face turned red as a cherry.

"I swear, I'll rip those little dog ears right off his head!" Dev was muttering under her breath.

Miroku gave her a cautious look and then send Inuyasha a blank stare. "Be thankful, Inuyasha… I just saved your life." He held Dev up to his face. "You want us to help this Kawaru person or not?"

Dev calmed some. "Yeah."

"Inuyasha's gonna be the one busting her out, so I suggest you refrain from trying to rip him apart… if you could actually do that."

Dev ground her fist into her palm. "Oh… I'd find a way."

Inuyasha poked Miroku's shoulder with his right index finger's claw. "We going, Houshi?"

Miroku released Dev and she hmphed at the hanyou and began to flit away, Miroku following. Inuyasha soon followed the monk. They paused as Kagome cried. "Wait! We're coming too!"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "I thought you said this was a trap and you didn't want to walk into it."

"We don't." Sango confirmed. "But if it is a trap, we can't very well have you walking it into it alone, can we?"

"Inuyasha rolled his eyes and followed Miroku as Shippo hopped onto Kagome's shoulder and they followed.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"It's that big rock over there. Kawaru's in that one." Dev pointed out as they neared the rock.

"So… exactly how long have you known Kawaru?" Miroku asked off-handedly.

"About 140 years. I've actually never seen her face to face. She was already sealed when I met her."

"And Inuyasha knew her before that?" Kagome cried immediately, turning to Inuyasha. "Just how old are you?"

Inuyasha paused for a moment, sorting out why she was asking this in the first place before he answered. "270." Kagome stared at him. "Why is that so surprising?" He continued. "Demon's don't succumb to age like humans do."

"Oh yeah… I guess not." Kagome stared at him for a few minutes more. _Wow. He's been around for a lot longer than I thought. He acts my age. Thought, I guess Demons age and mature differently. They'd have to mature slower to keep up with their age._ It was interesting that Kagome and the others had never considered Inuyasha to be older than twenty (and much younger at times when he would fly off the hook at nothing). His age had just never been in question.

"Is that so shocking? He's a baby to most demons. I'm over 700." Dev proclaimed proudly, spinning in the air a few times before striking a pose. "And I still look this cute!"

"Dev… how did you meet Kawaru, exactly?" Inuyasha looked at Kagome after he spoke.

Dev paused for a moment and shrugged. "Well, being a _time sprite_, I like to visit different time periods. But every once in a while, if I don't calculate the amount of energy to cross to another time, the limbo I go into between times can spit me out at a pretty random place. At one time, I was spit out a few miles away from here. I found this area pretty, so I started wandering. Then, I noticed this odd rock with holy talismans on it. I went closer and discovered that there was a really odd demon inside. It was Kawaru. The rock she has is kind of like a demon ward. It keeps nocturnal demons away. You know how this area is famous for them, among other things. So, In exchange for keeping me safe from demons while I was around, I agreed to help find someone to get her out. I felt strongly about helping her too, since she's so young. The only problem is the whole seeing me thing. Not too many people can, so I wasn't much help. I could help keep her alive while she was in there, but that was it." She stopped and pointed at the rock again. "This is the place. Can you get her out?"

Miroku translated, and Inuyasha smiled, drawing out his sword. "Easily."

"Are you sure you want to do this, Inuyasha? We still have no idea what's going to come out of that thing." Sango inquired, readying her Hiraikotsu.

"I'm positive, Sango. There's something about the name Kawaru that's familiar. Naraku wouldn't know someone from so far in my past. He's only been around for fifty years, and I supposedly met this girl over 100 years ago."

Sango sighed in resignation, but no one relaxed their battle stances. "Don't actually hurt Kawaru, now, Inuyasha."

Miroku nodded. "Dev says not to hurt the girl inside, Inuyasha."

"Well, duh. What would be the point of setting the girl free if I kill her in the process?" Inuyasha raised his sword above his head and sniffed out the Wind Scar. _How much power should I put into it. Quite a bit to break the seals on it, and then a bit more to actually break the rock. But… not enough to hurt the girl. Fine then… a little to the left._ "Kaze no kizu!" He took aim and sliced neatly down the left of the fissure, allowing power to surge from the blade and into the rock. The front of the rock burst open and dust rained from the sky as the light of the attack faded.

All was still for a while as Miroku and Sango eventually ventured a closer look into the opened rock. They could see nothing but darkness, and no dream demon seemed present. Miroku gave Dev a dull look. "Well? Where's this dream demon?"

"I know she's in there!" Dev defended immediately. "I've been trying to get her out for 140 years for-!" She stopped. "Hey… do you hear that?"

Sango and Miroku leaned closer to the rock and strained their ears to listen. After a few minutes they could distinguish a quiet high-pitched wail. It was gradually getting louder and it almost seemed to be coming from the rock itself. "What is it?" Sango inquired quietly as if trying not to obstruct the sound coming from the rock so that someone could clearly identify the sound.

Suddenly, the wail turned to a full-blown squeal as a green and white figure shot out of the rock and slammed into Inuyasha's middle, knocking them both to the ground with the new figure on top. Kagome jumped. "Inuyasha!"

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Kitty-chan: Well, hope you liked it. There are more to come, so... woo! Review all! Tell me what you think! Flames accepted. Till next time! 

(I know I usually do a preview of the next chappy, but I'm posting these as I write them, so... I dun have one. It may be a bit before I get the next chapter up since I'm being really tedious with this story. XP)


	2. One Wish

Kitty-chan: Alright! Chapter two! This chappy is a bit longer, but... whatever. These first two chapters are kind of the prologue, but they're really too vital to write as a prologue. They needed to be added as a full part of the story. So, gomen ne if you're getting bored. Alright! I don't own any of the Inuyasha characters. The only characters in this story I own are Kawaru and Devani. Other than that, the characters are the property of VIZ, and Takahashi Rumiko-sama.

(Now to see what has attacked Inuyasha... ooooooh)

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**Recap:**

Miroku looked back at Inuyasha. "Does the name Kawaru mean anything to you?"...

"Kawaru..? ... That name does sound incredibly familiar… but it was from a long time ago."...

"She's been sealed inside a rock since a few years since you two got separated."...

"Take me to her then."...

"Kaze no kizu!" He took aim and sliced neatly down the left of the fissure, allowing power to surge from the blade and into the rock. The front of the rock burst open and dust rained from the sky as the light of the attack faded...

Sango and Miroku leaned closer to the rock and strained their ears to listen. After a few minutes they could distinguish a quiet high-pitched wail... Suddenly, the wail turned to a full-blown squeal as a green and white figure shot out of the rock and slammed into Inuyasha's middle, knocking them both to the ground with the new figure on top. Kagome jumped. "Inuyasha!"...

>>>>

Kagome stopped, her anxiety fading. She had expected some puppet of Naraku to be on top, ready to rip Inuyasha apart, but what she saw was quite the opposite. To her and everyone elses' surprise, there lay on Inuyasha not a monster, but a young girl, her arms locked tightly around his middle. She paused. The girl was a demon. That was subtly clear. She had greenish hair to match her green tank top and poofy green harem pants. Her ears were long and pointed and dragonfly wings sprouted from her back. She looked no older than ten years old.

Inuyasha grunted and sat up a bit, looking down at the young demon in his lap. He then looked up at Kagome, who shrugged. "Uhhh…."

"Inu no Nichan! You came back!" She abruptly looked up and gave him a pleading look. "What took you so long?"

"Uhhh… so long? I don't get it." Inuyasha muttered.

"What? Don't tell me you don't remember me!" Kawaru begged, giving him a long stare.

Inuyasha stared at her, attempting to remember. Oh he knew her alright, but the memories escaped him currently. He knew there was a whole group of memories he would regain if he could just grab one of them. "Uhhhh…"

"Come on! You know! Remember the wish?" she prodded.

Success! Inuyasha gripped the memory and everything involving the child came back to him. "Oh yeah. I remember you now. You're the dream demon that followed me around for, what… ten years?"

"Yep! Until you came up with a wish!" Kawaru released her grip on his middle and sat back, smiling broadly at his having found her identity in his memory.

"Speaking of wishes, where's your Eneruma? Aren't you always supposed to have one?"

"Oh! Yeah!"

"Or did you already use this era's wish?"

Kawaru floated off of Inuyasha's body, shaking her head. "No. I couldn't use any wishes under the seal anyway. But the Eneruma were the only things keeping me alive while I was in here, that is until Dev came along and gave me energy at night." She darted back into the rock and returned seconds later with a blackish-green orb in each hand. "I have two now! You deserve a wish for getting me out of there! What do you want?"

"Kawaru… I can't have another wish. I already had one, remember?" Inuyasha waved his hand. "Besides, I still want the same thing I wanted two hundred years ago, and you can't grant that wish."

"Oh… yeah." Kawaru's smile wilted, then rose again. "Then you decide who should get these two wishes." She held up the two orbs.

Inuyasha pondered for a simple few moments before pointing at Kagome. "Her. Give the first wish to Kagome and then we can decide on the second wish from there."

"Am I the only one who doesn't have any clue as to what's going on?" Kagome demanded of Inuyasha more than the others.

"Yeah, really. Explain, Inuyasha." Sango requested.

Inuyasha sighed, preparing himself for the long explination. "Kawaru is a Dream Demon, as you have heard. Ever hear of them?"

Miroku paused and stroked his chin a bit. "Actually, come to think of it… I think I have. They're extremely rare demons. Only around one hundred exist in the world at a time. They live longer than any other demon type. They also have the ability to grant wishes. It's their main duty, am I correct?"

"In simplest terms, yes. Dream Demons can grant wishes, but there are plenty of restrictions. Their laws command that they can only grant one wish per era." Inuyasha began, sitting down and setting his sword across his chest as usual. Kawaru plopped into his lap. He gave her a look, but did not try to move her.

"Era?" Miroku repeated, sitting as well.

"Yeah. A dream demon's life is separated into 100 year spans, called Eras. And each 100 year span, they can grant one wish. The more wishes they grant, the more powerful they become. The energy they use to grant the wishes is stored in those glass orbs, called Eneruma."

"Wait. If she can only grant one wish per era, why does she have two orbs now?" Kagome inquired as Shippo hopped into her lap.

"Yeah. If she has two of them, doesn't that mean that she can grant two wishes?" Shippo pointed at the orbs.

"True, but that's another weird rule. You see… at the beginning of each era, energy is collected and stored in the Eneruma for later use. At the beginning of the next era, energy is once again set aside, wheather the Eneruma from the last era has been used or not. A dream demon can grant two wishes in an era only if they did not use the last era's wish. See?"

Dev turned to Kagome. "Think of it as rollover minutes on a cell phone. If you don't use up all of the minutes in one month, you can use the minutes you didn't use the next month." Kagome nodded, then paused.

"How do you know about cell phones? You live in this era, don't you?"

Dev shrugged. "Yeah. But I'm a time sprite, remember? I tend to spend my time in whatever time period I choose. I tend to like your era, Kagome-san. It's very convenient. But I don't spend it in Japan. I tend to like spending it in Egypt or India. There's so much to see. But now that I know someone, I might visit more often." She smiled.

Kagome nodded again, then froze at the weird looks everyone was giving her. Miroku raised an eyebrow. "What the heck are you two talking about?"

"Oh don't mind me!" Kagaome waved her hands and turned to Inuyasha again. "So… the longer a dream demon lives the more powerful it gets?"

Inuyasha nodded. "Yeah. Well… actually it gains power more quickly if it grants wishes. Granting wishes gives it experience, and experience gives it power. It gains power if it doesn't grant wishes, but the gain is really slow. If a dream demon grants one wish every era, it will reach its peak of power at about the tenth era. Or about 1000 years."

"Wow. So… Kawaru, if you don't mind me asking, how old are you?"

"267." Kawaru answered bashfully. "I still have a long way to go. I've only granted one wish in my entire life so far."

"Wow… you look so young." Miroku mused.

"Dream demons age extremely slowly. They have to, to keep in pace with their age." Inuyasha informed them.

"Makes sense." Sango smiled. "Kawaru-chan, about the wishes, you said you granted a wish for Inuyasha at one time?"

"Yeah. Over two hundred years ago. He was only in his late fifties when I met him. A bunch of humans had learned of dream demons and found me. They were chasing me trying to get a wish, and I ran into Inu no Nichan. The humans turned on him, thinking that he was going to try and get the wish they wanted and attacked, so he fended them off. I wanted to grant him a wish for saving me, but I couldn't grant the one wish he had."

"To become a full demon?" Shippo guessed.

Kawaru gave him a surprised look. "Yeah. How'd you know?"

"Cause that's what he's still after." Kagome answered quietly.

"Oh." Kawaru looked up at Inuyasha to find that his gaze had been pulled to a nearby tree.

"Why couldn't you grant his wish, Kawaru-chan?" Miroku asked, leaning foreward.

"Laws of the dream demon tribe. No granted wish may change the true form of the recipient." Kawaru recited. "It's been that way since dream demons started granting wishes."

"Why? I mean… why did they make that rule?"

Kawaru looked at Sango. "Well, the wishes that we grant fiddle with the natural order of things as it is. The dream demon tribe doesn't want the world to go off the handle completely because of the wishes we grant. So, they make certain rules to try and keep us from sending things out of control. Because people are selfish most of the time. A lot of people we grant wishes for wouldn't care if their wish crumbles the world around them, as long as they got what they wanted.The tribe's just trying to keep us from throwing things too far out of the natural order."

"Oh yeah. That's tough logic, but it makes sense."

"So, what happened since you couldn't grant his one wish?" Miroku ventured.

"I just followed him around until he finally came up with a wish. That took about ten years." Kawaru laughed.

"Ten years!" Kagome exclaimed. "What did he finally wish for?"

Kawaru opened her mouth to answer, but it was immediately clamped shut by Inuyasha's clawed hand. "Come on. It's late. We need to set up camp for the night."

Miroku gave him a look. "Huh? But… lodgings at the headman's!"

"The village is miles away from here, Miroku. We wouldn't have time to get back before sundown." Inuyasha growled, setting Kawaru on the ground and standing.

"Why does that matter? Is tonight the new moon or something?" Sango looked up at the darkening sky.

"No. But I don't want to run into any nocturnal demons around here. This area is famous for them, after all." Inuyasha turned and headed into the woods. "Stay here. I'll go get us some firewood."

The group stared after him for a moment before Kagome turned to Kawaru. "Sorry about him. He can be crude sometimes."

Kawaru smiled. "Don't worry about it. Actually… He's different."

"How so?" Dev plopped onto Miroku's shoulder as the monk spoke.

"He's gentler than he was before. When I was with him, he always seemed to be unhappy, and he had no patience whatsoever. There's a softness to him that wasn't there 200 years ago." She smiled and stared at the point where Inuyasha had disappeared. "I like him better this way." She returned her attention to Kagome. "You must be one amazing priestess if you were able to calm him down to the point that he's like this."

"I don't think all of it was me. I think Miroku-sama, Sango-chan, and even Shippo-chan helped. Not to mention Kikyo… at one time." Kagome sighed. "But he's even become a lot gentler than when I first met him a little under a year ago. If he changed that much in that span of time, I can't imagine how different he is to you."

Dev poked Miroku's temple. "Houshi-kun… what did Sango-san mean with the new moon? What does the moon have to do with anything?"

"Oh… don't worry about it." Miroku waved his hand and smiled. _Houshi-kun? That's one I've never heard before._

_>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>_

"I get a wish?" Kagome stared at the Eneruma that Kawaru held before her eyes.

"Yep. Inu no Nichan told me that you should get this wish." Kawaru nodded.

"And I can wish for anything?"

"Well…" Kawaru put a finger to her chin. "There are a few rules. They were set by the dream demon tribe thousands of years ago. The first of which is… I can only grant one wish per person… ever. I'm not allowed to grant a person more than one wish for their entire liftetime."

"Is that why Inuyasha couldn't get his wish?" Miroku pointed at Inuyasha, who lay sleeping a few feet away.

"Yeah. I already granted him a wish a long time ago." Kawaru glanced at the half-demon for a bit before turning back to her Eneruma. "The next rule is that I can't kill anyone. Well… technically, I could, but the dream demon tribe discourages it. They tell us to avoid killing. Personally, I'm not a murderer, so I won't kill anyone."

Kagome sighed. "Well… that rules that idea out."

Shippo stared at her. "What? Who were you planning on killing?"

Kagome chuckled. "Naraku. Who else?"

"Sounds like a good idea to me." Dev nodded.

"Who's Naraku?" Kawaru cocked her head.

Miroku paused before waving his hand. "He's no one that you need concern yourself with." Kawaru stared at him for a moment longer. "So… are there any more rules?"

"Yeah. As I said before, I can't change a creature's true form. For instance, I couldn't change Inu no Nichan into a full demon. Lastly, I can't bring people back to life. For two main reasons. One; the dream demon tribe forbids it. Once again, I could if I really wanted to, but the dream demon tribes goes with the reasoning of trying to keep our granting wishes from completely unraveling the natural order in the world. Actually, if you think about it, bringing the dead back to life would be worse than changing someone's true form." Kawaru shrugged. "Other than that, you can wish for anything within my power."

"Wow." Kagome looked down. "I don't know what to wish for. I mean… well, I do… but I have so many wishes I'd want to make to help us on our mission. Just making one of those wishes wouldn't help us very much. I'd need all of them to come true for it to help us." She stared into the fire. "I mean… I'd wish that Miroku-sama's curse would be lifted, and Sango-chan's brother were out of Naraku's grip, and that Shippo-chan's father had not died… but only wishing for one of those wouldn't help us much."

Kawaru sighed. "Sorry. I wish I could give you more."

Kagome smiled. "Oh, don't be sorry. It's unfair for me to expect you to grant three or four of my wishes."

"Hey, Kawaru… just a passing question, can you grant your own wishes?" Shippo inquired suddenly. "As in… could you wish for more Eneruma and get them?"

Kawaru shook her head. "No. It doesn't work that way. The Eneruma are only to be used on others."

"Oh. Alright." Shippo chuckled. "Just a passing thought."

Kawaru nodded and looked back at Kagome. "Well… I might be able to grant all of those wishes. Is there something that connects them? For instance, you could make a wish that effects all three of those situations?"

"Naraku." Kagome muttered.

Kawaru looked down. "Sorry. I told you I can't kill."

"I understand." Kagome sighed and silence consumed the group as she thought. After a moment, her head shot up and she pulled a small bottle on a string from beneath her shirt. "The Shikon no Tama! That's it!" Kawaru raised an eyebrow. "The Sacred Jewel connects them all! You know of the Shikon no Tama, haven't you?"

"Who doesn't?" Kawaru chuckled.

"The Sacred Jewel is something that connects them all!" Kagome looked hopefully at Sango, who nodded, smiling.

"Not all of them." Miroku muttered to himself, though the others heard him, staring at his right hand. "The Sacred Jewel had nothing to do with the battle between Naraku and my Ojii-sama."

Kagome paused. "Yeah, but without the Sacred Jewel, Naraku would be easier to take down. Not having the Jewel would make him an ordinary demon. You'd have an easier time of getting rid of your curse."

Miroku looked up as if finding out that they heard his mutterings. "Don't worry about me, Kagome-sama. Don't let me interfere with your wish. It's your decision after all." Dev poked his temple and inquired about his curse as Kagome turned back to Kawaru.

"Kawaru-chan… could I wish that the Sacred Jewel had never been created?"

"Kawaru shook her head. "No. Since its creation, it's involved so many people and caused so many things to happen. I couldn't possibly undo that. I'm not powerful enough. I'm only in my third era and like I said, I've only granted one wish in my life."

Kagome sighed. "That makes sense I suppose. I'll think of something else."

Kawaru nodded and stared at the ground, feeling guilty for not being able to fulfill the ideas that came to Kagome's mind. After a few moments, her gaze found Inuyasha still form and she floated over to stand next to his back. She stared at his back for a long time before placing her hand at different places. After a moment, Sango spoke up. "Kawaru? Why are you touching Inuyasha's back?"

Kawaru stopped and turned to look at her. "Have any of you seen Inu no Nichan's back recently?"

"Like, his skin?" Miroku gave her a look.

"Yeah. Have you seen his bare back?"

Miroku nodded. "Earlier this evening when we took a bath in the hot springs." Miroku used his staff to motion to the mountain behind them where the source of the hotsprings lay. "Why?"

"He doesn't have any scars, does he? You didn't see any long scars across the middle of his back, did you?" Kawaru gave him a pleading look and flew back over to the fire.

"No, he doesn't. Why do you ask?"

"Kawaru smiled weakly. "That's good to hear. It has to do with the night we got separated."

"You wanna talk about it?" Sango stooped down to look Kawaru in the face.

Kawaru looked up. "Well… a few days before we got separated, we stopped just outside a small village for the night. It seemed really routine. We build a fire, Inu no Nichan went hunting, and we went to sleep. We were both really tired from all the traveling we had been doing lately, so we decided to stay there a few nights. The next morning, a few kids stumbled onto our campsite and ran home screaming about demons. Later that day, I got jumped and badly beaten by a group of humans. I managed to lead them to our campsite, where Inu no Nichan fended them off. They claimed that Inu no Nichan and I were killing their livestock. They told us that for the past few months, some type of demon had been raiding their food stores and eating their horses. They thought it was us. I suppose it was because we were the closest demons around and they had no one else to blame."

"And did Inuyasha really kill any of their livestock?" Kagome ventured.

"He might've, but it would only have been that one night. We had never been to that particular village before. But I don't know what he went hunting for when he went out at night. I never saw the meat he ate."

Sango blinked. "You mean, he didn't give any food to you?"

"Oh no! There was no reason to bring any of his kill back to me. See… dream demons don't eat. We don't get energy from food like humans and most demons do. We live off of the emotions and energy of other creatures when they sleep. Emotions from dreams are mainly what we live on. Hence the name of our species." Kawaru chuckled. "That's the only reason I survived being sealed for the almost sixty years I was sealed before Dev came along. People would camp out and use my rock as somewhat of a shelter, and I would feed off of their emotions at night. I also stayed alive by gleaning a bit of energy from my Eneruma. When Dev came along, she gave me permission to pull energy from her when she slept and that kept me alive and got me back to full strength."

"So you weren't asleep in that rock." Shippo stated.

"No. The monks who sealed me sealed me alive and awake."

Sango chuckled. "Judging by how you gain energy, I think I see why you're so attatched to Inuyasha." Kawaru stared at her for a moment. "Did he let you draw energy from him?"

Kawaru nodded. "Yeah. He was my only source of nourishment the whole ten years. He told me I could take energy from him while he slept."

"Wow." Kagome smiled. _Inuyasha certainly has a soft spot for unique demons._ "Hey, Kawaru-chan… does it hurt the person when you take energy?"

"It can, if I take too much. Most of the time, it puts them into a dreamless sleep, and if I take more than I actually need, they wake up with a migrane that can last for a good few days." She changed gears back to her story. "Inu no Nichan might've killed one of their horses. But I doubt it. He can eat a lot, but not that much on his own."

"What happened after Inuyasha got the humans away from you?" Miroku pushed.

"Inu no Nichan and I knew that I wasn't well enough to travel in the condition they had put me in, so we didn't have a choice but to stay another night. That night… everything went wrong. The headman of the village had hired demon slayers to come and exterminate us. When I woke up, the battle was just starting. Inu no Nichan bought me time to escape, but as I was leaving, one of the slayers impaled his back with an axe. That was why I was wondering about any scars on his back, because the axe, I'm guessing, went pretty deep into his back. I tried to go back to help him, but a bunch of slayers jumped at me and I was forced to run away. A few years later, a few monks who feared my power as a dream demon sealed me into that rock. I never saw Inu no Nichan again until now."

A disturbing silence had fallen over the group as Kawaru finished her story. Sango was staring intently at her feet, her fists balled against her knees. Kagome looked back at Inuyasha. _That's amazing. That had been done to him by a Slayer, and yet he has no problems being with Sango._ She looked over at the Tayjin and paused at her expression.

"Demon Slayers… did that to you?" she whispered.

Kagome gave Sango a sympathetic look. "Sango-chan…"

Kawaru, too, looked over at Sango. "Kawaru-chan…" Sango began. "Did the slayers do anything to you?"

Kawaru paused for a moment, sensing the pain in Sango's words, before removing her left shoe and pulled her pant-leg up past her knee. It revealed a long red scar that began at her ankle and wrapped up her shin to her kness, as if someone had coiled a rope of fire around her leg. "As I was escaping, one of the slayers wrapped their whip around my leg and yanked the cord off really quickly to cut into my skin. They were trying to slow me down… I was lucky not to lose my leg."

For a moment, Kagome saw tears in Sango's eyes. After a pause, she bent her torso to the earth. "Forgive me and my people, Kawaru-chan. I am a Tayjin and I take responsibility for what was done to you."

Kawaru took a few steps away and was silent for a long time, staring at the top of Sango's head. She looked between the fire, Sango, and Inuyasha for a while before sighing slightly. "Don't worry, Sango-san. You weren't alive 200 years ago. It's not your fault." Sango sighed and sat back, but Kagome noticed that the guilt did not retreat from her eyes.

"At least except my apology. It's the very least I can do."

Kawaru nodded. "Sure."

"Hey… sorry to break the mood here,"Dev spoke up, floating off of Miroku's shoulder to sit on his head. "But if I don't ask, I'm gonna explode." Miroku rolled his eyes. "Kawaur-chan, you said that you granted Inuyasha's wish. What did he wish for?"

Kawaru giggled as Miroku was about to translate. "It took him ten years to come up with it, but he eventually used his wish."

"Wait… you can hear Dev? How?" Miroku stared at Kawaru. "How can you see her? You're not a priestess."

Kawaru shrugged. "I can't see her, but I can hear her."

"How?"

"Well, demons and other creatures of the same type as Dev can sometimes see or hear her." Kawaru explained.

"Wait… you're a demon, and she's a fairy. How can you be of the same type?" Shippo asked. He immediately recoiled as Miroku did his best to hold onto Dev to keep her from twisting Shippo's head off for calling her a fairy.

"Well, because of dream demons' nature and appearance, we are also classified as sprites, like Dev. So… in a way… we fall into the same category." Kawaru shrugged.

"I'm going to ask one more time before I explode." Dev muttered as she managed to quell her rage. "What did Inuyasha wish for?"

"He used his wish on a young dying hanyou boy we found."

"Huh?" Kagome gave her a wide-eyed stare. "He used his wish on someone else?"

"Yeah. I was shocked too. He was always so selfish back then. But… we found a young half-breed boy in some bushes. He had been attacked by demons and was slashed up pretty badly. Inu no Nichan wished for the boy to be healed."

"He certainly has a soft spot for uniquie creatures, doesn't he?" Kagome laughed.

"He certainly does. That hasn't changed about him. He's changed so much since I last saw him. He's grown up physically and mentally." Kawaru smiled and flew over to sit by Inuyasha's head and sighed. "I'm glad to be back with him." She curled up against him and closed her eyes.

Kagome smiled. "She's so cute." She whispered to Sango.

"Hey. I hate to break up this little love-fest, but Kagome-san… don't you have a wish to decide on?" Dev waved her arms from atop Miroku's head.

"Yeah. There's not much you can do to help our situation with just a single wish." Miroku shrugged. "The Sacred Jewel's been in existance too long for Kawaru to reverse."

"Yeah. Too bad we can't destroy it since it was shattered. Then we could avoid a whole set of problems." Shippo sighed.

Something clicked in Kagome's mind. "Yes we can!" she cried suddenly, causing the others to jump with surprise. They stared at her, waiting for an explination. "We can destroy it from the time it was shattered! I can wish that it had never come out of its dormancy!" Kagome nodded at Sango, who smiled. She then too looked to Shippo. Shippo raised an eyebrow at her.

"Why not wish that it hadn't been shattered?" he suggested.

"If I did that, it wouldn't do anything to stop the Jewel's cycle of bloodshed. It would only start a new one." Kagome reasoned, looking up at Miroku's downcast face. Her expression wilted. "Miroku-sama? What's wrong?"

Miroku sighed. "Nothing. Just… be careful, Kagome-sama. Time is a dangerous thing to mess with."

Kagome stared at the shards in the bottle for a long moment. "This world has become so dangerous because of the jewel. Naraku continues to grow in power, and countless demons under the influence of the shards are wreaking havoc. So many things could've been prevented if the jewel wasn't here. So many things within the timespan of now and when the jewel first reawakened. Sango-chan would be with her family… Shippo-chan would be with his father… Naraku would be just like any other demon… not to mention all the other countless people we've met who have been hurt by the shards. This world would be so much a better place if the jewel wasn't here."

Dev scoffed and crossed her arms. "Well… if it'll do all that, then by all means, do it!" She floated off of Miroku's head and started off to the side. "But don't forget what Houshi-kun said about time."

Kagome sighed as they settled in to sleep for the night. _It'll undo a lot of things, like… Kouga-kun won't have his shards…Miroku-sama won't have his either… but, I'm sure more good will come out of it than bad, right?_

_>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>_

"Wish time!" Kawaru cried as the group was finishing up breakfast. She grabbed her Eneruma and floated over to hover in front of Kagome. "Have you decided on your wish yet?"

Kagome sighed and nodded. She looked over at Miroku, who was staring at the ground. Did he know something she didn't know, or was he simply upset that his curse would not be reversed? _No… he's not that selfish. What's wrong, Miroku-sama?_ She then saw Dev place herself on the bridge of his nose, drawing a small grunt of surprise from the monk. Dev was staring at her rather coldly. _There's definitely something those two aren't telling me. They're acting so strangely._ She waved it off, and decided to ask them about it after she made her wish. This was not a time to be having doubts. She was about to do something that would make the worldso mucha better place. She needed to stay focused on her goal. She shifted her gaze to Sango and Shippo, who both looked rather content. Inuyasha's face was completely blank. He hadn't been privy to the conversation around the fire the night before. Kawaru certainly looked excited. "Kawaru-chan… I wish that the Sacred Jewel had never come out of its dormancy."

Kagome saw Inuyasha's face contort with an unreadable emotion. She figured some of it was shock, and some of it was anger. It took her a fewseconds to calculate why this was an issue to him. _Oh… the whole full-fledged demon thing…_ She sighed and looked at Kawaru's pensive expression. It made her nervous. She had paused, considering the priestess' choice and calculating the power it would take to fulfill the wish, and if she had that needed power. She stared at the Eneruma in her right hand for a long moment before her green eyes shifted to the one in her left hand. After a few more calculations, her eyes lit up.

"Ok! Yeah! I can do that!"

"You can!" Kagome cried excitedly, her hopes shooting up from where they had dropped at Kawaru's intense stare. "Great!"

"It'll take the energy from both my Eneruma to do it, but yeah, I can do it!" Kawaru smiled proudly.

Kagome hesitated, staring at the two orbs. "Wait… you'd have to use both of them? I don't want to take two of your wishes."

"No! It's fine! Actually, it's better this way. I'll gain more experience by granting one really taxing wish than if I grant two little ones. Please let me grant that wish! Don't take it back! Please!" Kawaru begged, fixing her with two large green puppy eyes.

"Are you sure, Kawaru-chan?" Kagome asked slowly.

Kawaru nodded vigorously. "Yes! I'm positive! I want to grant this wish!"

Kagome's gaze shifted to Inuyasha. His eyes had gone quite blank and they had a glazed quality to them. She had never seen these eyes before. She leaned toward him. "Inuyasha… are you alright?"

Inuyasha didn't answer for a long time. He felt a pain in his chest akin to the pain of his youkai self taking over. _My dream… my goal… no Sacred Jewel…?_ All his life he had had his dreams and wishes stepped on. His every hope destroyed for what he was. But this one dream was like none of the others. He held onto this one with all his might. It had been the one dream that neither human nor demon could destroy, but now… in one fell swoop Kagome was managing to smash it to bits. Sure, she had good intentions, but that didn't change how it felt to hear her speak that wish. He felt just as if she had plunged an arrow deep into his chest, and only one thought came to mind. _Betrayal…_

"I'm fine." He finally grumbled, though it was far from the truth… and Kagome knew.

Kagome put a hand on his shoulder. He didn't even acknowledge it. "Listen… because of this wish… you can't become a full-fledged demon, and I'm sorry about that. But… can you see why I'm doing this?" Inuyasha didn't answer, but turned his attention to Kawaru.

"Now, concentrate on your wish, Kagome-sama." Kawaru commanded, holding up her Eneruma. Kagome obeyed and closed her eyes, trying to purge her thoughts of everything except her desire to end the Jewel's cycle of carnage.

The others looked on as Kawaru also closed her eyes and allowed the two Eneruma to float away from her hands. As the two of them suddenly shattered into small bits of black glass, darkness consumed the area, and winds seemed to be suddenly blowing at them from all sides. Their ears were filled with nothing but the deafening sounds of the wind, and Inuyasha immediately grabbed onto Kagome and held her close, as if to keep them both from blowing away. Miroku put his arms around Sango for the very same reason, and kept glancing down at his right hand, almost expecting it to be the cause of the ferocious winds. After all, the only place he had ever felt such wind was from the cursed hole. Sango did not object to his embrace, and instead, grabbed his cloak and held tight, her fear beginning to grow.

Kawaru began to look around as if something had gone wrong; as if things had suddenly gone out of control. Sango felt Miroku's arms tighten around her as he watched the giant rock that had been the dream demon's prison loomed up behind her. The hole created by Inuyasha's Kaze no Kizu began to encircle the young demon and after a moment, closed down on her entirely, sealing her in and drawing a scream from her throat. Sango looked up at Miroku. "What's going on? Where'd Kawaru go?"

Miroku gritted his teeth, and shook his head before casting his gaze about a bit. "Dev's gone too!"

"Kagome! HELP!" Shippo suddenly screamed as he was lifted off the ground in the wind's iron grip. After an agonizing moment, two red streaks of light came down on his small body and the air was thick with his scream. There was a flash of red and when it faded, Shippo was nowhere in sight."

"Shippo-chan!" Kagome lurched foreward, but was restrained by Inuyasha, who pulled her back to him. Kagome gripped his fire-rat kimono for dear life. "What's happening?"

The next scream was that of Miroku. Sango found herself suddenly holding his upper body as he dropped to his knees and doubled over, clutching at his right hand in agony. "Houshi-sama! What's wrong?"

"My hand!" Miroku paused in his screams of terror and pain to speak. "It feels like it's on fire!" His scream intensified as the burning sensation shot through the rest of his body and his muscles gave a violent jolt, causing him to writhe in Sango's arms. Sango began to slightly panic, trying her best to keep herself under control as the monk suddenly began choking as if the air itself was strangling him. After a few seconds of this, his breathing stopped altogether, and he went limp in her arms.

"Miroku-sama!" Kagome yelled, once held fast by Inuyasha.

_This wind… this is the thing that grants the wishes. It's somewhat a tangible form of Kawaru's energy stored in the Eneruma. Is it not supposed to touch humans? Why is it killing them?_ Inuyasha growled and tightened his grip on Kagome. _It won't get Kagome!_

Sango screamed the monk's name as she tried to shake him back, but his body had already gone cold. Slowly, his body lost its weight and he dissolved into the blackness that surrounded them. Sango called his name once again as Kirara ran up to offer her comfort. Sango stood and rounded on Inuyasha. "Inuyasha! What's going on? What's happe-!" Sango's voice stopped, cutting off her speech as the same red lines that had banished Shippo came down also on her body. She screamed loudly as the streaks seemed to cleave her thin body in half. The line suddenly caught Kirara's body as well, and her panicked cry joined Sango's scream until they had vanished completely.

"Sango-chan!" Kagome buried her face in Inuyasha's chest and gripped his shoulders tighter than ever. In response, she felt Inuyasha's arms tighten across her back. "Inuyasha! What's happening? Where did all the others go?"

"I don't know what the hell this wind is, but I won't let it hurt…" Inuyasha trailed off as he spotted something in the distance.

A bow with an arrow drawn to the string.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome looked up, horrified that the wind wight've effected him as well. She noticed his stare was aimed behind her, so she too took a glance behind ther to see the oddly suspended weapon.

The arrow released, vanishing into motion and reappearing when the tip imbedded itself in Inuyasha's chest. Inuyasha screamed as not only the pain of the arrow shot through his chest as his weight left the ground and he found himself suspended by the arrow, but also at the painful memories that the weapon managed to dig up.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome immediately grabbed the arrow in an attempt to free him as she had before, but unlike last time, the arrow would not relinquish its hostage. "Inuyasha! Please stay with me! I can't get the arrow out! Open your eyes!"

Slowly, Inuyasha obeyed, fixing her with his orange gaze, glazed with death. He suddenly grabbed her and weakly pulled her to him, deeply inhaling her scent. Kagome threw herself into the embrace, as if perhaps if she held on, he would not vanish and follow the others. "Inuyasha! You made a wish 200 years ago, right? How do you stop this wind? I have to stop this wind so that it'll stop hurting all of you!"

She could feel his body shake as he summoned the last bit of his strength to answer. "It's not… the wind that is hurting us." She froze, not bothering to ask the question that she knew he would next answer. "It's… your wish."

Kagome pulled away slightly as his head dropped to rest his chin on his chest, and his arms fell limply at his sides. "What! My wish? I didn't want this! No!"

"Don't… forget me… wherever you…end up..." He moaned as his consciousness began to flee. "… and I won't… forget you." Darkness swallowed his vision.

Kagome watched in helpless horror as his form plastered itself to a tree and he melted away into the dark. "Inuyasha!"

The ground beneath her feet vanished and Kagome fell to follow suit with her travel party...

... dissolving into the void of her wish.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Kitty-chan: ANGST! Okies... feeeeeeeeel the Emo-ness. Ok. Be sure to visit my sis pish-posh at her site. I'll post the links to her site on my bio! Be sure to check them out! Revieeeeew!


	3. Priestess Kikyo

Kitty-chan: Whoa! No way! Another chapter! Yes, I am continuing this story! What a shock! Ok, sorry for the sarcasm bit. Just for the record, I don't own Inuyasha or anyof the characters from the anime. I only own Miirodi, Dev, and Kawaru. Anyway, I hope you like the second chapter! Byes!

Stuff with the (#) next to it is translated/explained at the end of the chappy.

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"_Kagome…"_

"_Inuyasha? Where are you?"_

"_I'm here."_

"_Where? I can't see you?" She looked around, but all she could see was the odd blackness that had been dubbed her wish._

"_I'm here." He repeated, his voice echoing from everywhere around her._

"_Inuyasha, what happened? Are you alright?" Kagome shivered a bit, though the air around her held neither coldness nor warmth. "Please." She breathed. She felt her hand longing to touch his cloak, to feel his presence next to her. Her voice was faint when she spoke again. "I need you close to me._

"_I am close, Kagome."_

"_But where?" Kagome moved her muscles to spin her head, but the darkness was so complete, she couldn't tell if her head had actually moved. "I need you here. I need you to protect me."_

"_I will protect you…" She could hear a weak smirk in his voice. "I promise."_

"_Inuyasha! Where are you?"_

"_Now, wake up, Kagome. Wake up."_

"_Inuyasha, answer me! Where are you?"_

"_I said, wake up, Kagome. Come one. Wake up."_

"Kagome! For heaven's sake child! Wake up!"

_I know that voice._ "Jii-chan(1)?"

"Yes, it's me. And thank the spirits you're awake. You've had us all worried sick. You've been asleep for almost two days." Her grandfather answered. Kagome found that her eyes were not yet prepared to open, and so kept them shut as he spoke. "Come on downstairs and get something to eat. You must be starving." She could hear the distinct sound of his socks padding across the tatami mats(2) as he left.

She opened her eyes. _My room has carpet, not tatami mats._ She managed to sit up and took in her surroundings. She was not dressed in her school uniform, as per usual, but rather, she wore the red and white garb of a priestess. Currently, she sat on a rather flat futon and a large kimono covered her as a blanket. Leaning against the wall next to her pillow was a large decorative bow and a full quiver of arrows. She looked about the room and found it typical of traditional hotel rooms. It was very simple, tatami mats covering the floor with a closet and a small table in the center. A window was above her head, but the only thing that provided the room light were the few small torches on the walls and the small lit candle sitting on the table in the center.

"Where am I?" She muttered to herself. She put a hand to her head and shook it a few times before openeing her eyes again, half expecting to see her real room again. "Jii-chan is here, meaning I must be at home. After all, he, Mom, and Souta can't pass through the hidden well. But this certainly doesn't look like home."

As she rotated her upper body slightly to look around the room pain suddenly shot down her left arm, originating from her shoulder. She pulled her kimono top down to see that her entire left shoulder was covered in tightly wound bandages, a few spots of red peeking through. The fact that the wound existed was not as surprising as the fact that she had felt the pain. The pain that had enveloped her arm just now was real, meaning that this was no dream. It was like pinching herself, though this method seemed to hurt more. She shook her head again and set her mind on trying to figure out where she was and how she got back to where Inuyasha and the others were.

She crawled off her futon and made her way out the sliding door and down the small hallway. She passed two other doors before finding herself in the main room. Her family was gathered about a large pot in the center, hanging over a fire pit. They each held a bowl in their hands, and all turned to stare at her as she entered. She stared back at them, not quite believing her eyes.

They were all dressed traditionally.

Souta smiled as she entered. "Finally got out of bed, Ane-sama?(3)"

_Sama?_ Kagome paused for a moment. "Ne… where are we?"

Her grandfather and her mother exchanged a look and then her mother smiled warmly at her. "Don't worry, Dear. You're at home." Kagome stared at her for a long moment, her face quite blank. After a moment, she continued. "That demon gave you a pretty bad hit to the shoulder, but you're alright now. Come and get something to eat." She ladeled out a helping of the stew they were eating and extended the full bowl to Kagome.

Kagome looked to her shoulder, then back at her family before seating herself at the empty place. She took the bowl and stared down at the brownish liquid for a moment before her brother spoke from next to her. "The villagers from all three villages were really worried about you, Ane-sama. They were afraid you'd never wake up."

She paused. _Villagers? Demons?_ "Mama… you mentioned a demon. Are there demons in this era now?"

The three of them stared at her for a long while. "Dear, are you alright? There have been demons in this land since time began."

Kagome stared at her bowl of stew. "And… we live in a village?"

Her mother put a hand to her forehead. "Kagome-chan, are you feeling alright?"

"Do you think that cat demon's attack did more than just harm her shoulder?" Souta inquired, setting his bowl down. "Did it damage her memory, perhaps?"

"I don't know, Souta." She whispered back. "Honey, why don't you rest a bit before returning to your priestess duties? You're not acting like yourself."

"Priestess duties?" Kagome breathed. She stared down at the fire as her mother took her bowl from her. "It's as if I'm in the feudal era, but… I live in it."

"Kagome-chan, go get some rest and we'll see how your memory is then." Her mother helped her to her feet and ushered her down the hall and back into the first room.

Kagome was still for a moment after her mother shut the door, then wandered over to the window above the futon._ How is it that Mama, Jii-chan, and Souta are in this feudal setting? Where's our shrine? Where's… everything?_ She glanced down at her bow and arrows. _I'm a priestess in this time, but there have never been demons here before, why are they here now?_ She sighed and leaned her head on the windowsill. _I don't understand any of this. Where am I? How'd I get here? And how do I get back?_ She looked outside and around the area surrounding her house. Off to the right, she could see a small village, maybe a quarter of a mile away, but other than that, there was no other sign of human life. The grass around the house was overgrown, as if it hadn't been cared for in a long while. It must've at least reached to the mid-shins. The area directly around the house, what would be the garden was overrun by brownish weeds and brown vines clung to the outside walls of the house and to the small fence that surrounded the "garden". But the thing that perplexed Kagome the most was the sky. She could not tell if it was day or night. There was a bright enough gleam from the sky to see well enough, but it certainly wasn't as radiant as the sun, nor was it dark as night. There was a greenish red glow to the sky and the clouds rolling across the sky were pitch black. Kagome got a strong sense of clausterphobia, even though the area she saw was sparsely populated even of plants.

A small presence in the back of her mind suddenly manifested, causing her to turn around. In the center of the small room was a magenta light, like a large spark from a firecracker. After a few seconds, it grew a little bit to take the form of a small person. The color around her melted away and Dev hovered in its place, her wings beating madly behind her, arms crossed, and a disappointed expressiong on her face.

"Dev! What are you doing here?" Kagome smiled. It was almost a rhetorical question. When Dev did nothing but glare at her, Kagome let loose the questions that were plaguing her. "What the heck is going on here? Where am I? Why am I here? How did I get here and how do I get back?"

Dev glared heavily at her. "'What's going on here'? Your wish is going on here! You are at home right now! This is what your wish has done!"

"Whoa!" She put her hands up. "Rewind! What do you mean 'my wish'? How on earth is my wish related to this…" she motioned out her window at the dead landscape. "… disaster!"

"How is it related? Your wish caused all this!" Dev cried back, waving her arms around.

"My wish caused it?" Kagome raised an eyebrow. "And how exactly did my wish to help eveeryone caused so much turmoil?"

"The only person you helped with that wish was Naraku! You've thrown everything out of whack! Houshi-kun told you to be careful when you mess with time!" Dev floated down to stand on the pillow. "Why didn't you listen?"

"Well… I thought that removing the Sacred Jewel from the picture would help anyone." Kagome squatted down on her haunches to look at her. "And… well why hasn't it?"

"Don't you get it? Naraku rules your world! Naraku has complete control over everyone and everything in this land! He basically rules Japan! And let's not rule out the possiblility that he'll eventually move on to other lands!"

Kagome laughed nervously. "What on earth are you talking about, Dev? About that you said earlier… how did my destroying the Sacred Jewel's influence help Naraku? And what do you mean 'he rules my world'?"

"Think about Naraku for a moment. Does he really need the Sacred Jewel to become stronger?" Dev tapped her foot impatiently.

Kagome paused and fully sat down, her legs tucked underneath her. "No… he only needs a steady supply of demons to absorb."

"Exactly. And, as for your other question, the Sacred Jewel's destruction helped Naraku by removing the most powerful resistance there ws against him."

"You mean Inuyasha-tachi?" Dev nodded. "It got rid of them? How would it get rid of them?"

"Don't you understand what's happened, Kagome-san? Inuyasha-tachi-(4)!"

"Kagome!"

"Jii-chan?" Kagome ran to her bedroom door and slid it open to see her grandfather waving his amrs from the end of the hall.

"Kagome! Get out to the Goshin Boku(5) now! The cat demon tribe has come back for revenge for the one that you killed a few days ago! Hurry!"

Kagome, out of instinct, grabbed her full quivver and slung it over her good shoulder, then grabbed her bow and headed out the door, calling to Dev to follow. Dev flew after her, landing in her quivver as Kagome made it outside and looked around at the crowd of Cat demons swarming around the area. A few villagers (obviously from one of the three nearby villages) were fending off a few of them, using such weapons as spears and even a few swords. Those that saw her, brightened visably and fought all the more, renewed with hope. She took a few backward steps toward the house again before holding up her bow and grabbing an arrow from her quivver. She drew it to the string as a demon spotted her and started toward her, but her injured left shoulder would not stand the resistance of the bow and the weapon dropped the the ground next to her as she fell to her knees and gripped her now-bleeding wound. Dev flew out of the quivver to hover by her ear. "Kagome-san!"

"Ane-sama! Get your weapon! The cat demon's right in front of you!" She heard Souta yell. She could hear other random shouts of encouragement from unknown villagers, but her body would not move. She was rooted to the spot. She was not too sure if the pain in her shoulder willed her to remain motionless, or if it was the fact that she knew Inuyasha would not come to rescue her this time. Two clawed feet appeared in her vision, then the lower portion of a human-like creature as it squatted down on its haunches. A sharp hand curled around her chin and forced her to look up.

"Well, if it isn't the infamous Priestess Kikyo brought to her knees." The cat hissed. He was a brute of a demon, with a think strong body and glaring black eyes. His fur was orange red, almost as if it were on fire, with streaks of yellow running along his arms and legs. He wore a thin armor of types, covering his upper torso, exposing his belly, then covering his legs down to his feet. His arms were wrapped in metals protectors that stretched up to the backs of his hands, but stopped there, allowing his fingers free movement.

Kagome couldn't help but sigh. _How can people even in this time period think that I'm Kikyo?_

"The only Priestess Kikyo that lasted longer that you was the original Kikyo over 500 years ago. You're pretty impressive." He turned her head slightly, as if examining the contours of her face. "Can you imagine the reward I would get from Naraku-sama if I killed you? You're quite the nuisance." He smiled and turned her head the other way. "You know, there's a rumor going around the human villages that You're the human told of in legends. People think you are the human warrior. You know the old legends, right?" He jerked her head to face him again. "Your rebellion will end, My Lady. Naraku-sama cannot be defeated by any demon or human!

Kagome said nothing, trying to take in all that he said. One thing stuck in her mind. _So… here, Kikyo is a title. They don't think I'm her, I'm just a Priestess that plays a role._ Her mind lingered a few seconds on the "legends" he spoke of, but her thoughts were cut short as he released her chin to force her onto her back on the ground.

"Try all you want, Wench. Naraku-sama will not die!" He raised his claws to strike and both her name and her title were thrown from the vocals of all the villagers around her. But before he struck, she heard a soft, faint voice echo in a far corner of her mind.

_Kagome…_

"Inuyasha…?" Kagome breathed. As the claws came down, she winced, and squeezed her eyes shut, but no blow came. After a few seconds, she opened them again to see the last few cat demons retreating from the brilliant white light pouring from the Goshin Boku, crying and yowling. Once they were out of sight and the light began to die down, Souta, her mother and several villagers surrounded her, all inquiring to her well-being.

"Ane-sama, are you alright?"

"Ah… what happened?" Kagome sat up and put her hand to her shoulder again.

Her grandfather pushed his way through the small crowd and pointed her attention to the God Tree. "This tree has protected the family of the Priestess Kikyo for around 500 years. No one knows why, but it has protected this entire area from Naraku's hold since his reign began."

Kagome stared up at it for a long moment. This was surely the tree that had sat in her shrine in the unaltered world, but there was something different about it. She couldn't place it. The paper talismans hung around it just like always and it was as green as ever, even in this dead world, but still… something was different about it. After a few moments, her mother set her hand on her good shoulder. "How's your memory, dear? You grabbed your bow and arrows before coming out here. Do you remember anything?"

Kagome sighed and shook her head. "Sorry. No." She looked to the ground. _It's not that my memory is messed up. I just don't have the correct memory for this world. I remember everything about the normal world, but I don't know anything about this one._ Her gaze floated back to the tree as her mother began to explain the predicament to the surrounding villagers. _I thought I heard Inuyasha's voice in my head right before the tree did that. I have to find him, but where is he now. He could be anywhere at this point._

"Kagome? Hello? Are you in there?" Kagome blinked as Souta waved his hand back and forth in front of her face.

"Uhh… yeah. Sorry." Kagome looked down at him and got to her feet. The villagers began to disperse as Kagome headed over to the side of the house and sat down. She put her head in her hands and gave a heavy sigh. She sat still for a moment before a voice caused her to turn her face upwards.

"Kikyo-sama?"

In front of her was a young girl, no older than thirteen. One her back was a quivver of arrows and she held a bow in her hands that looked far too big for her to use. She bowed and sat down, her legs tucked underneath her. Kagome smiled weakly. "Who are you, young one?" _Young one? Did I just say that?_

The girl sighed and gave her a smile whose strength matched Kagome's. "I guess it's true what the others are saying. You really have lost your memory."

Kagome nodded. "Afraid so. I really don't understand what is going on around here." She gasped through clenched teeth and clenched her hand around her shoulder as it gave a pulse of pain. The girl stood.

"Kikyo-sama! Your wound must've reopened. I'll go get you some fresh bandages." With that, she ran off in the direction of her villages as quickly as she could. It wasn't long before Souta approached and sat next to her.

"Hey, Ane-sama. What happened back there? You froze up. Why didn't you attack that demon?"

Kagome stared straight ahead, once again staring at the tree. "I don't really know, Souta. I… I don't really understand what's going on since I apparently lost my memory. I'm not quite myself."

"That's true. But you should still have your instincts."

"Maybe. But maybe this is a sign my instincts were never really all that great to begin with." Kagome shrugged, her eyes still stuck on the tree. After a moment, she glanced in the direction the girl had run off in, then to her brother. "Souta, that girl who was here just a few minutes ago… who was she?"

"Oh. That's Miidori. She's from Shin village." Souta explain, standing and dusting off his pants.

"Oh." Kagome looked back at the path the girl had taken. "She held a bow and arrow. Why does she carry a bow and arrow when she's so young?"

"She's your heir."

"My heir?"

"Yeah. The Kikyo name has to live on, so Miidori was chosen to be the Priestess Kikyo after you." Souta explained, motioning in Miidori's direction as she appeared running toward them, her hands laden with medical supplies.

"Souta-chan!" Kagome's mother called from across the yard. "They need some help putting back together a house that the cat demons wrecked! Can you come help?"

"Hai, Mama!" Souta called back before taking off.

Miidori approached and bowed to kagome, dropping a few supplies as she did. Clumsily, she knelt down to try and gather them up, but only succeeded in dropping more. Kagome smiled gently and stooped to pick up the dropped items. "Oh, forgive me, Kikyo-sama." She appologized hastily. As soon as Kagome had the items, they both stood and headed into the house.

Kagome shook her head. "Don't worry about it. Souta said your name was… Miidori?"

"Hai, Kikyo-sama. I am to take on the job of Priestess Kikyo after you." Miidori nodded slowly. Kagome took note of the fact that her voice lacked a certain excitement. From what she had seen so far, the position of Priestess Kikyo was held in high regard. She would think that the young girl would be happy to except the position.

"Miidori-chan… is something wrong?" Miidori looked up at her, a questioning look in her eye. "You don't seem to be excited about taking the position."

Miidori looked down as they entered Kagome's room. "Well… I'm honored to be chosen as the next Priestess Kikyo, but…" She fell silent. Kagome made her way over to her futon and sat down as Midori unburdened her arms across the floor and began sifting through the items to find some fresh herbs and bandages. Kagome looked at her and decided to guess.

"You don't want to be a priestess?"

"Oh no! My dream has always been to become a priestess, but… I don't think I'mm good enough to be a Priestess Kikyo." Miidori sighed.

Kagome chuckled quietly, and removed the top part of her kimono, leaving her in the wrap that covered her bust and the wrap that bound her shoulder. "You don't think you're good enough? Well, you may not be now, but think about it… I'm not going anywhere any time soon, so you still have plenty of time to become good enough." Miidori looked up at her. "Don't worry. When the time comes, I'm sure you'll be just fine. They don't pick just anybody to be the Priestess Kikyo, you know."

Miidori shrugged. "No, I don't suppose so." She smiled a bit. "Thank you, Kikyo-sama."

Kagome waved her hand. "No need for such formalities, Miidori-chan. You can call me Kagome."

"Kagome?" Miidori repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes. That is my real name."

"Oh." Miidori blinked. "I didn't know that."

"Oh, really?" Kagome frowned a bit as Miidori began to unwind the soiled wraps around her shoulder. "I wonder why that is."

"Well, really, only those who knew the Kikyo growing up would know her real name. Everyone else, like the children of the village and new refugees just call her Kikyo-sama or Priestess."

"Oh." Kagome nodded. "Speaking of the villages, can you explain to me a little bit about these villages?"

Miidori began to apply a few herbs to the threes deep gashes on her shoulder as she spoke. "Well, these three villages were formed soon after Naraku's reign began. It was a base, of sorts, for the rebellion against Naraku. There were branches of it, at one time, all across the land, but one by one, all the others were wiped out. These three villages were spared because of the power of the Goshin Boku tree. And so, the three villages became know as the Go, Shin, and Boku villages. Once it was found that the Goshin Boku protected this area from invasion at the hands of Naraku and his demons, humans began to come here. Most of the humans left in this land live right here in this village. Humans in the north, east, and west of this land are a rarity. There are those that live up there, but not very well. Most are thieves and bandits. Some even work for Naraku."

"Wow. So the Goshin Boku is everything to humans."

"Yes. It is our source of protection. Only this area and the western lands remain free from Naraku's grasp." Miidori finished wrapping her shoulder and stood. "We can feel the effects of his tyranny, but he does not control the area protected by the Goshin Boku."

"Ane-sama!" Souta was suddenly heard from outside. "The cat demons are back! Help!"

Kagome leapt to her feet and ran back outside, Miidori on her heels. They made it outside to see the grouping of people huddled together under the sacred tree. Miidori gripped Kagome's kimono from the back and wimpered quietly. Kagome scowled at the demons who were circleing the tree just outside its protective aura, pacing like caged tigers. Her mind began racing. _I have to get Miidori-chan under the tree. I have to keep her safe. She's these villages' hope. I can't let that get taken away from them._ She looked back and forth across the lawn, then glanced at her bow. _My shoulder's not strong enough to support the bow, so I can't fire any arrows._ She looked to the cat demons, then eyed a path leading out of town.

"Kagome-san!" Dev cried, flying up and landing on her shoulder.

"Dev? Where have you been?" Kagome put her hand on her hip.

"Talking to a few monks from the village. We need to do something." Dev answered, waving her arms.

Kagome nodded as Miidori pointed at Dev. "Kagome-sama… what is that?"

Kagome shook her head and knelt down in front of Miidori. "Nevermind. Miidori-chan, listen to me carefully. I'm going to distract the cat demons so they'll move away from the Goshin Boku. Once they're far enough away, I want you to run to the protection of the tree, understand?"

"But what about you?" Miidori inquired quietly. "How will you escape the cat demons if they all come after you?"

Kagome shook her head. "I'll be fine. I'm heading west, to where Naraku doesn't have control to look for some answers. Promise me you and the other villagers won't come after me?"

"What? But you'll-!"

"Promise me, Miidori-chan!" Kagome stated firmly. "You and the others are not to leave the protection of the Goshin Boku."

Miidori stared at her for a long moment before nodding. "I promise, Kagome-sama."

"Good." Kagome straightened and ran over to stand in the path leading out of the village. "Hey! Neko-youkai(6)!" The group of demons looked at her. "It's me you want, isn't it?" She paused, not really expecting an answer. She spread her arms out to the sides. "Then come and get me!" Immediately, the demons took the goad and headed for her. She turned and began running in the opposite direction, looking back long enough to see Miidori slip through the Goshin Boku's barrier into safety. Kagome ran as fast as she could, but she knew that cat demons would be extremely fast, so she only had a short amount of time before she was overtaken and attecked.

"Now what?" Dev cried, flying alongside her, her wings almost invisible in their speed.

"I'll think of something!" Kagome promised, panting heavily as she urged her body foreward. Sure, she'd think of something, alright, but would it be of any help to her? Currently, she could ontly think of one thing.

_Inuyasha! Help me!

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_

Kitty-chan: SO glad that chapter didn't turn out as long. Hope you liked it. READ AND REVIEW! PLEASE! I want to know what you think! Flames accepted.

Translations!

1- Jii-chan: Grandpa  
2- tatami mats: Tightly woven and delicate mats that are used in the floors of most traditional Japanese homes and hotels.  
3- Ane-sama: Older sister (high respect)  
4- Inuyasha-tachi: Inuyasha and everyone with him (referring to Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku etc...)  
5- Goshin Boku: God Tree (The tree that Inuyasha was sealed to)  
6- Neko-youkai: Cat demons

Voila! Byes!


	4. The Western Lands

Kitty-chan: Finally! Another chapter! I haven't had a lot of time to do things lately, but I'm getting there. I think there's going to be a bit of an influx of story updates for me since I'm on break for a bit. Anyway, sorry this chapter took so long to submit. It's kinda long, but whatever. I hope the next chapter won't take as long.

Just some notes about this chapter:

In here I attempt to explain the issue of Kagome's mentality while she's in this world. Poor little Dev does her best to explain how much (or little) the alteration caused by the wish has affected her. Hopefully you will understand it. Read it slowly when you get to it if need be. As Houshi-kun said, "Time is a dangerous thing to mess with." Well, not only is is dangerous, it's freakin messy and hard to explain! So... I apologize deeply to those of you who don't really get it. If you don't understand it, it's alright. It's not vital to the storyline, it's just to clarify for you, the reader. Don't drive yourself crazy trying to understand it if you don.t XD Alright. I'll stop.

Anyway, just to let you know, I do not own any of the Inuyasha characters. They are copyrighted by VIZ and Takahashi Rumiko-sama. I only own Miidori, Dev, and Kawaru. Enjoy!

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Kagome's legs screamed and burned, and her shoulder ached like nothing she'd ever felt from the motion of running. "Dev! I can't keep this up anymore! We've gotta do something!" She glanced behind her at the seemingly tireless cat demons, each one grinning madly as they gained ground on the fleeing priestess.

"You're a priestess! Use your powers!" Dev cried back. Her wings were completely invisible to the naked eye as they beated to keep her propelled through the air. She glanced down at the bow that Kagome held in her hands, then to the quiver on her back. "Use your weapon! Even before the wish was granted you were a pretty good shot, weren't you? Shoot them!"

Kagome glanced down at her bow before drawing an arrow from her quiver and fitting it loosely to her bowstring. _The problem is, I don't have enough time to turn and shoot. By the time I stop running and shoot, they'll be cooking me up for dinner tonight._ She glanced behind her once more, and felt the feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach increase. Inuyasha wasn't going to save her this time. He couldn't help.

She shook her head. _I have to think of something._ The thought of shooting the arrow blindly at them without stopping was dangerous. If she turned her body to aim, it would slow her running and if she aimed for them blindly she was sure to miss. She closed her eyes for a moment, attempting to block out her surroundings to think. But in the instant that she closed her eyes, she felt something warm glowing in the back of her mind. _What's that?_ Slowly, she began to see a picture. White figures running for her in a pitch-black atmosphere. _Are those… are those the cat demons?_ She opened her eyes and looked behind her to see the exact image she had seen before, only with proper color. _Am I seeing their energies in my mind when I close my eyes?_ She closed them again and saw the same image. With her eyes squeezed shut, she swung her bow around her back and let the strung arrow fly. Nothing happened. With her eyes still closed, she loaded another arrow and released it. One of the white energies disappeared and the ones around it began to fade.

"Kagome-san! Watch out!"

Kagome opened her eyes and veered to the left as she dodged a tree. She shook her head. Luckily, there were very few things standing in the way in the barren area, otherwise, she would have hit a dozen things by now.

"Kagome-san, wait. Look."

Kagome stopped and looked up to find that Dev had stopped flying, and was now hovering back by the tree that Kagome had just missed. She was staring at the cat demons, who were approaching carefully, their mad grins gone, replaced with scowls. "What happened?" Kagome breathed, her voice heavy with panting.

"You tell me. You blindly shot at the demons, and one of the arrows hit the cat in the lead square in the chest!" Dev answered, not taking her eyes from the slowly approaching demons.

Kagome shook her head. It had worked? "How did I…?"

Dev smirked. "I think you have the instincts of the Kikyo-sama that you were before the wish was granted."

Kagome raised an eyebrow. "I'll ask you about that later." She quickly pulled another arrow from her quiver, and aimed it at the approaching cat demons. Her injured shoulder screamed at her, worse than it had before, but she kept the bow and arrow steady. The cat demons stopped, but did not retreat; rather, they seemed content with a standoff. For a few agonizing minutes, there was little movement between the two sides. Finally, the largest cat demon began to pace back and forth in front of them, like a caged beast.

"We can wait here for a long time, Priestess." He snarled.

"So can I." Kagome growled back.

"Really? I don't think you can." He stopped pacing, and sat down directly across from her, picking at his claws carelessly. "I may not have the sense of smell a dog does, but I can sure smell your blood. You are injured, Kikyo-sama, and you can't hold that bow forever. Sooner or later, you're gonna have to give it up." Kagome said nothing. "That's the problem with you humans. You're so stubborn. Never willing to admit when you're-!" The cat demon cut off as the arrow Kagome had held aloft impaled its chest, and exploded in purple light. What was left of the demon's body after the explosion dropped to the ground. Kagome strung another arrow.

"That's what I hate about demons." Dev scoffed. "Their so proud. He didn't even notice the fact that Kagome could change this stalemate into a fight just by shooting him. He was too busy yakking."

A female cat yowled and launched herself at her, jumping into the air to come down on the priestess. Kagome screamed, and aimed the arrow at the cat's flying figure. She closed her eyes, and released the arrow. The battle cry was cut off, and demon's body hit the ground in front of her. The five remaining youkai rushed into an attack, surrounding her and then jumping in at her. Kagome didn't bother stringing another arrow, and simply held up her bow. On an impulse, she pumped energy into the bow, causing it to glow a bright purple. As the demons closed in, the weapon released the energy blowing all the demons a good ten feet away. Kagome lowered the bow and gave an uncharacteristically fierce glare to the ones closest to her as they struggled to stand. Once they had gotten to their feet, they took their beating as a warning and disappeared.

Kagome stood in awe of what had just happened, dropping her bow, and heaving huge breaths to replenish her suddenly starved lungs. She chuckled a bit and gave a huge sigh to calm her breathing. "Wow… never knew I could do that." Her next breath was a sharp hiss through clenched teeth as her shoulder fell into a wave of pain, and she covered it with her hand. "Ah!"

Dev dropped down to hover by the offending joint. "Your shoulder bothering you?" She nodded.

"Wasn't hurting before." She answered through her teeth.

"I think your mind was focused on other things." Dev answered bobbing her head in the direction that the cat demons had just retreated. "I think you may have opened up the wound." Kagome slid the collar of her kimono top down to reveal the bandage that had only just begun to leak with blood. "Well, not all that bad." Kagome looked up at her.

"I'll be alright." She answered, swinging her quiver onto her good shoulder, grabbing her bow, and standing. She lifted the bow over her head and let it rest across her chest to allow her to hold her shoulder with one hand. "Let's keep moving."

Dev stayed where she was. "Moving where?"

"West. I want to check out the west to see if anyone up there is interested in doing something about the state of Japan." She answered evenly, continuing foreword. Dev sighed and followed. There was silence for a bit before Kagome spoke again, her strength beginning to return. "I hope Jii-chan, Mama, and Souta are alright."

"The Goshin Boku will protect them, Kagome-san." Dev assured her, smiling.

Kagome chuckled quietly. "It's odd entrusting my family's protection to a tree."

"It's not exactly a normal tree, though." Dev landed on her good shoulder and sat down. "You should know that pretty well if you ask me."

"That's true. That's where Inuyasha was sealed." Kagome remarked thoughtfully.

Dev paused for a moment, crossing her arms. "Your use of the past tense has been noted."

Kagome stopped walking and craned her neck to see the sprite on her shoulder. "Yeah. He's not sealed anymore. I freed him." Kagome reminded her obviously.

Dev sighed and put her head in her hands. "You really don't get this whole wish issue, do you?"

Kagome raised an eyebrow at her as Dev flew off her shoulder to float in front of her. "What don't I get?"

Dev growled and ground her fists as if she were to explode before she spoke. "Kagome-san! Don't you understand what has happened!" Dev yelled.

"I don't really understand anything right now! All I know is that I have to find Inuyasha and get all this ordeal straightened out!"

Dev rubbed her eyes in exasperation. "You can't find him! He's dead!"

Kagome stared at her for a long moment. Her lips curved in a less-than-sincere smile. "Dev… as if you hadn't noticed, I'm stressed enough. I don't really need a joke."

"I don't play jokes, Kagome-san!" Dev shouted back. "Inuyasha is dead!" She flew up close to her face and slammed her hands down on the bridge of Kagome's nose.

Kagome's eyebrows came to a point, going cross-eyed to look at Dev. "What's that supposed to mean?" Her worry was fading away to annoyance with her outbursts.

Dev sighed and rolled her eyes. "Am I speaking in code? I'll say it a third time; Inuyasha is dead! Technically, when Kikyo sealed him to the tree, he was dead!"

"But I broke the seal and set him free!" Kagome argued.

"Not in this world, Priestess. That's what you have failed to understand from the beginning. When you took the Sacred Jewel out of its activity, you removed your involvement in the Edo Period!"

"What do you mean?" Kagome inquired quietly. She was not stupid, she just was failing to accept Dev's words.

"Listen, what made it possible for you to get through the well in the first place?"

Kagome blinked at her for a moment before breathing, "Well, the Sacred jewel in my body, I suppose."

"And it only carried you through because it had become active again. And you wished that it had never come out of its dormancy. So that means…" Dev motioned to Kagome to continue.

"… then…" Kagome paused for a moment, afraid that if the words came out of her mouth, they would suddenly become true. "Then… I never would have gone back there." Dev nodded, waiting for her to continue. After a moment, she did. " And I never would have met Inuyasha-tachi."

"Exactly." Dev sighed.

Kagome shrugged. "So what? They're not stupid. They could've handled themselves without my help."

"Don't underestimate Naraku, Kagome. You've helped them more than you realize. The strength that you all had was your teamwork. You all worked as one powerful unit. Naraku couldn't stand up to that. But you weren't there to bring everyone together." Dev made a poignant pause. "They're all dead."

Kagome's voice caught in her throat. Her mind was not willing to accept the words, and so scrambled the dreaded sentence in her mind that she asked, "What?"

"Once again, am I speaking code? They're dead! Houshi-kun, Shippo! Sango-san! Inuyasha! They're all dead!" When Dev read in Kagome's eyes unmoving disbelief, she elaborated. "Without your medication, the first encounter Houshi-kun had with the Saimyoshou would've been his last! He was poisoned to death! And even if he hadn't been, he would've died of old age or something.

"If you all had not found Sango, she would've eventually died as well, either by Naraku's lackeys or by old age! And Shippo and his father would not have lasted long against Naraku's power. Don't you get it? The Sacred Jewel may have a cycle of carnage, but apparently it had something to do with Naraku's defeat and without it, your world is dying."

Kagome sank to her knees, drawing dirt into her hands and crushing it in her fists to release some of her frustration. "How did I… not know…?" Tears splashed to the ground around her hands. "Inuyasha… Miroku-sama… why didn't I listen to you?" She fell silent, her shoulders hunching with soft sobs now and then. Dev hovered around her, not sure what to say. She knew that even though Kagome was tortured by the information, she had not felt the full force of what she had done, and the torturous feeling inside the priestess would only get worse over time. After a long pause, Kagome spoke, her voice grief-laden, but firm.

"How do I fix it?"

"Excuse me?" Dev asked, backing up a bit.

"How do I get the world back to the way it was?" Kagome still did not look up. "I can't live with that many lives on my shoulders. And I can't live without Inuyasha. How can I fix it?"

Dev shrugged a bit, but could not muster a vocal response before a worn and weak male voice interrupted. "My Lady…"

Kagome turned to look at a middle-aged man staggering toward her. His middle and halfway down his legs was saturated with a stick red substance that dribbled to the ground as he walked, leaving a trail of red droplets. There were cuts and gashes all over his arms and face, and blood was trickling from his mouth and left eye.

Upon seeing her, a weak smile broke out on his face, and his good eye sparkled bravely with joy. "Oh, Lady Kikyo. Truly, is it you?"

Kagome leapt to her feet and dashed toward him. "Yes, it's me." Satisfied that he had accomplished his mission, the man fell to the ground, coughing blood across the dirt before him. "What happened to you?" Kagome rolled him onto his back and gingerly placed his head in her lap.

The man took a few deep breaths before speaking, his voice strained as if something were trying to pull the words back into his throat. "Naraku has been trying to take over the western lands, and by doing so has been attacking those of us that live under the great Dog-General."

_Dog-General? Inuyasha's father! But… he's dead!_ Kagome turned back to the man, prepared to ask another question, but he spoke first.

"My Lady, you must not let the Dog-General fall. If Naraku takes over the west, he will surely have enough power to overpower the holy Goshin Boku!" He paused for a few labored breaths. "Then he will move onto other lands." He sighed and Kagome could feel death embrace him.

Shaking, Kagome set his head on the ground and gently pulled his eyelids shut with her fingers. She continued to stare at the still form as she stood, lost in thought. Dev sighed and took note of Kagome's thoughtful expression. "What is it, Kagome-san?"

"The Dog-General… the only one I've ever heard called that is Inuyasha's father. Did my wish prevent his death?"

Dev shook her head. "No."

"Why?"

"Inuyasha's father's death had nothing to do with you or the Sacred Jewel. The only thing that your wish did was take you and the Sacred Jewel out of the Edo Period. Therefore, Inuyasha's father died the same way in this world as he did in the unaltered world."

Kagome nodded. "So how could Inuyasha's father still be alive?

Dev shrugged. "I don't know."

Kagome sighed and bent her steps west. "Shall we go find out, then?"

"Huh?" Dev shook her head. "Why? Judging by the looks of that guy," Dev motioned to the dead man. "it's quite dangerous to head west right now. And you're really not in any condition to protect yourself."

Kagome shook her head and adjusted the weight of her quiver. "It doesn't matter. I was headed west before, and I knew there were dangers when I left the Goshin Boku villages. No reason to stop here. Besides, if Inuyasha's father is out there, he can certainly help us. We at least know he's friendly to humans."

Dev sighed. "Fine. But what about your shoulder?"

"I'll be fine. And even if I wasn't, sitting around here isn't going to help anything, is it?"

Dev rubbed her temples as Kagome began walking. "You sure are persistent."

Kagome chuckled softly. "I have to match Inuyasha's stubbornness. It's an acquired trait."

"Whatever." Dev flitted after her.

They traveled in silence for a long while until Kagome looked to Dev. "Dev… I've been wondering; how on earth do you know all this. I mean about Inuyasha-tachi's deaths and Inuyasha's father? How do you know all that?"

Dev shrugged, the look on her face less-than-modest. "I am a time sprite, after all. I can go through time and check out anything I want." Her face solemned. "After you made the wish, I sped through time to see what the results would be and followed each person's story."

"What about Inuyasha's father? How'd you know about that?"

"Who doesn't? The Dog-General was an amazing ruler, whose presence was felt all over. Of course I know how he died."

"I see… so how is it that he's still alive?"

"Well, it is possible that someone brought him back to life. That is, after all, what happened with the Priestess Kikyo in the unaltered world, right?"

"True." Kagome sighed and allowed her mind to focus on the world before her wish. But the more she thought of it, the less she could remember. Inuyasha's face was still very poignant in her mind, but other things were beginning to fade. A certain wolf demon had already faded from her memory, as had the incarnations born from Naraku. She knew that all she had to do to hold onto the memory of her goal was to keep the faces of Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, and Shippo in her mind. She sighed. She thought back to the battle with the cats. She hadn't realized how dependant on Inuyasha she was. She knew she could do things herself, but when things got serious, she always relied on him to bail them out. That time… he hadn't come. And she knew that in this world-he never would. Something from the former battle came to mind and she looked once again to Dev.

"Dev? What did you mean before when you said that I have Kikyo-sama's instincts from before the wish, or something like that? What's that mean?"

(A/N: Here we go...)

Dev paused, then waved her hands around a bit. "Well… it's hard to explain. You see, when you made that wish, you undid a bit of history, so that empty space in history had to be filled again. Meaning, a new reality had to be created to fill that hole. You see, before you woke up after your wish, you had a life. You were Priestess Kikyo. You were a different person, because you had grown up differently. When you made that wish, you changed Priestess Kikyo's mentality into your own. Following me?" Dev raised a cautious eyebrow.

Kagome looked off to the side, thinking. "I think so."

Dev continued. "The wish recreated history, not because of Kawaru's power, but because of the nature of your wish. When the wish was made, the world was altered, and so were you. You were born into the same family, but in a different setting. Meaning, you grew up and lived the life of Kagome, the new Priestess Kikyo, until your mentality changed."

"How did my mentality change?" Kagome raised an eyebrow at her.

"Well, you made the wish when the time in the present was 2005, correct?"

"Yeah."

"Well, right now is 2005. It's just a different 2005 than the one that occurred before the wish, you see? You made the wish on July 18, 2005. This is still July 18, 2005. When you made that wish, your mentality was transported from the pre-wish Kagome into the altered Kagome. At that moment, the pre-wish Kagome's mentality took over the altered Kagome's mind." Dev stared at Kagome, hoping that she understood. After a moment of silence, she added. "Basically, you have instincts bored into you from the altered Kagome's childhood."

"I see." Kagome shook her head and pressed on, keeping her eyes on the horizon. "Well, then… moving on." She paused again, but continued walking. "Because I am the pre-wish Kagome, I remember what the unaltered world was like, but if I were to meet any of the others… if I were to meet Inuyasha, would he remember me?" There was a sparkled of hope behind Kagome's eyes that made Dev hesitant to answer.

"No, he wouldn't. But like I said, you won't meet him, or any of the others. He's-!"

"- dead. I know." Kagome muttered weakly. "I was just…" Kagome trailed off, looking into the distance. After a few moments, she distractedly finished her sentence, her attention held to that faraway mystery. "… clarifying."

Dev looked in the direction of Kagome's focus, then back at her. "Kagome-san? What's wrong?"

"Can you sense that, Dev?" Kagome asked distractedly. Dev was silent, squinting toward the area of Kagome's stare. "Can you sense that demonic aura?"

Dev raised an eyebrow and stopped her attempts to find out the source of Kagome's interest. "Demonic aura? I'm a time sprite, not a demon. I can't sense anything."

"It's… familiar." Kagome muttered. "I've felt this before."

"From where?" Dev wondered, floating down to rest on her shoulder.

"I… can't remember for some reason. It's like a voice that I can't put with a face." Her fading memories of the unaltered world seemed to block out the face that came along with the familiar energy it put out, and frustrated Kagome deeply. She suddenly gasped and backed up a few steps. "It's getting closer, fast. And there are more… hundreds of them! Hundreds of different auras!"

"What?"

"The aura I recognize is mixed in with hundreds of unfamiliar ones, and they're coming this way!" Kagome continued, her head tipped back as if sniffing for a scent.

Dev raised an eyebrow and looked at the ruins of a destroyed hut, scrutinizing it as potential shelter. "Shouldn't we hide? Or at least get out of the way."

Kagome nodded distractedly and began to slowly head for the makeshift shelter, as a clash of lights was seen shooting out of the horizon and toward them. The battling creatures only numbered four at the time, but Kagome could sense that the others were catching up. Apparently the familiar aura's owner was battling all three of the others and Kagome didn't suppose that the rest of the approaching demons were coming to support the demon on his own team.

As the battle raged on- the lone demon clearly losing energy- Kagome persistently tried to determine where she had felt the aura before. Her eyes took on a glazed quality as she began to pair the feeling with images in her mind. Silver hair, and a pair of piercing orange eyes.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome stood, and Dev panicked, worried that one of the battling crew might see her. "This aura is similar to Inuyasha's!"

Dev flew up to hover by her ear. "Kagome-san! Haven't we been over this? Inuyasha is dead!"

Kagome motioned to the clash. "Then how could that aura in there feel so much like Inuyasha's?"

Dev shook her head. "Inuyasha's father would have a similar aura simply because they're related. We've already stated that the villager was talking about Inuyasha's father."

"He said Dog-General! Maybe Inuyasha has become a dog-general in the altered world." Kagome suggested, fighting to hold onto the hope that had built up.

A loud grunt was heard and Kagome felt a large amount of energy leave the familiar aura. The owner of the aura hit the ground with a dull thud and a grunt followed immediately. Kagome looked down at the demon, who was in the process of failing to get up. Kagome stared at him for a long moment before breathing his name, "Sesshomaru…"

Sesshomaru's face snapped up to look at her for a moment before turning back to the demons, who were mounting another attack. Kagome looked at Sesshomaru, then at the demons. No matter how much she disliked Sesshomaru, his land was one of the only two uncontrolled by Naraku. She couldn't let him fall.

Kagome pulled her bow off her shoulder and yanked an arrow out, fitting it to the string as she leapt from her vantage point and stood firmly between Sesshomaru and the nameless demons. Ignoring the pain in her shoulder, she fired the arrow at them. The arrow hit nothing, landing in the earth before them, and exploding in a flash of purple light. The demons halted their approach and looked up at her, wary looks on their faces. Kagome drew another arrow to her string and aimed at them, a challenging expression on her face.

"Get away." She commanded evenly, fake venom in her voice. Her insides were writhing. The demons looked ready to attack for a moment, but Kagome made a quick and threatening movement with her bow that made them rethink their advance. They turned around and retreated into the distance, and after a few more moments, the legion nearby seemed to vanish as well. Kagome relaxed the string of her bow and slipped her arrow back into her quiver, turning to look at Sesshomaru, who glared up at her through pain-filled eyes.

"Priestess Kikyo from the south." He growled. Kagome smiled weakly before gripping her shoulder and dropping to her knees. Sesshomaru looked her over, his eyes lingering on her shoulder. "You bluff, Priestess. That is most unfitting of Kikyo-sama."

Kagome chuckled ruefully and slowly made her way over to where he lay. "Getting beaten by measly demons like that doesn't quite fit the Dog-General Sesshomaru, either."

Sesshomaru snorted at her. "I'm fine. These are nothing." To prove his point, he attempted to stand, but immediately fell onto his side.

Kagome regained her feet and put her right hand on her hip. "Oh yeah. Sure. You're fine."

"Shut up, human." Sesshomaru snapped, still attempting to at least get to his knees. "What is Priestess Kikyo from the south doing this far northwest?" he demanded.

"Looking for you, actually." Kagome answered, stooping to grab his arm. Sesshomaru yanked it out of her grasp and continued to try and get up.

"What could you possibly want with me?"

Kagome persisted in helping him to his feet as he got to his knees and continued. "I… I need to talk to you about some things."

Sesshomaru growled at her as he got fully to his feet. "I have not fallen so low as to be assisted by a mortal woman." He yanked his arm from her grasp again. "Nor to be caught conversing with one; priestess or not. I can take care of myself." As he turned and began to walk away, Kagome allowed a growl of frustration to carry after him.

"Oh, you are so much like Inuyasha it's pathetic!" She stomped her foot and Sesshomaru stopped his footsteps/ "You are so stubborn and too prideful to accept help when you really need it!" She stopped when she noticed the odd stare he was giving her. "What?"

"How do you know of Inuyasha? He was before your time."

"I know him very well. I only know you because you're his brother." Dev clapped a hand over her eyes. Kagome didn't seem to understand the absurdity of what she was saying. As soon as Kagome was finished speaking, she regretted her remark. The glare she was getting from Sesshomaru chilled her down to the pit of her stomach.

"I have no relation to that pathetic dog." Sesshomaru growled angrily. "But I must admit I'm curious to know how you know him. He has been dead for over 500 years. I know for a fact that you've only been around a fraction of that."

Kagome was about to respond, but paused. "If you want to know, promise me we can talk."

Sesshomaru growled. "Your knowledge of Inuyasha is really of no consequence and certainly not worth a conversation."

"Sesshomaru, listen." Kagome retrieved her bow and slung it across her chest. "To be honest, it doesn't really matter why and how I know Inuyasha. What does matter is that I even know he exists. But by whatever method I know of Inuyasha has allowed me to also know a great deal about other inhabitants of this world as well, including Naraku, and even you." Kagome shrugged. "Even you should not be as ignorant to pass up an opportunity for so much information as that."

Sesshomaru seemed to consider her words for a moment, his scowl unmoving. He then scoffed and began to turn. "Why should I believe that a mortal woman like you even has such information?"

In a last effort, Kagome blurted out, "I know you have a servant, called Jaken!"

Again, Sesshomaru stopped. After a pause, he said, "Jaken has been dead for over 100 years."

"Dead…?" Kagome stared at the back of his head. "How did he die?"

"There was an ambush on my castle and he was killed. Why does it matter to you how he died?" Sesshomaru was deeply trying to seem as if he didn't care, but the uncharacteristically soft tone in his voice told Kagome that he did.

"It just seems odd that you wouldn't revive him with your Tenseiga." Kagome took a few steps foreword.

Dev chuckled almost silently. Kagome had no idea that in her ignorance to the full extent of the changes in the world, she was slowly convincing Sesshomaru that she knew something that he should listen to.

Sesshomaru was quiet for a long moment. "The demons that killed him left nothing of his body. Even Tenseiga can revive a soul without a body to house it." There was a long uncomfortable pause as neither one moved, nor spoke. Sesshomaru opened his mouth, but Kagome beat him to it.

"What about Rin?" She inquired quietly. "Is she alright?"

Sesshomaru stared at her for a long moment as she eagerly awaited an answer to the well being of the small girl. Finally, he said, "Who the hell is Rin?"

Dev poked Kagome in the temple. "Rin and Sesshomaru never met. Inuyasha allowed them to meet because Rin trying to help Sesshomaru heal after a battle with Inuyasha. And even if they did, by chance, meet, Rin would be dead now."

Kagome blinked a few times before shaking her head. "Oh. Sorry. Rin's no one."

Sesshomaru rolled his eyes and reconsidered his decision for a moment before speaking. "Fine, then."

Kagome looked up. "Huh?"

Sesshomaru let out something akin to a runt and turned his head to look at her. "You wanted to speak to me, didn't you?" Kagome nodded. In a whirlwind of brilliant light, Sesshomaru had taken on his true form. The dog gave a typical wail, and stared down at her, its furry tongue, hanging limply out of its mouth. After a moment, he lay down, letting his loose fur touch the ground beside her. He bobbed his head at it, motioning to grab on. Kagome hesitantly made her way into the large fluffy fur and took a clump of it in each hand as reigns. As soon as she had a firm grip, Sesshomaru stood and took off west, heading for his own castle.

* * *

Kitty-chan: Well, I hope the time-talk didn't confuse you too much. If it did, I'm very sorry. Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter and stay tuned for more! Love ya'll! Bye! Review! (flames accepted) 


	5. Changes: The Curses of the Altered World

Kitty-chan: Well, at least this one didn't take as long as the last one. For all you Sesshy fans out there, this one has him here. XD I'm not a fan of Sesshomaru, but at my sister's request, I have him play a pretty major role in this story. I hope I did him justice. I tried to use an unbiased perspective of him. But in a completely honest way I say; I think Sesshomaru is rather arrogant. He thinks the world of himself. That is hinted at in the story, but I gave him the same subtlety in this that he has in the anime (full of himself, but hides it most of the time).

Anyway... here you get plenty of OC-ness and Sesshy goodness. Enjoy all you peoples!

Stuff with (#) next to it is translated at the end of the chapter.

* * *

"Well?" Sesshomaru pushed, seating himself comfortably in a chair. Kagome was sitting in the chair opposite him, though she sat rather rigidly. "You said you wanted to talk. Talk." 

Kagome gave a deep respiration, debating on what to say. Now that she thought about it, she had clung to Sesshomaru simply because he was familiar to her. She hadn't really thought about what she'd say if he gave her audience. She twirled a bit of hair on her finger for a moment before looking around the few times, keeping her eyes from meeting the look of increasing impatience on Sesshomaru's face. She looked down to Dev and whispered, "What did I want to talk to him about?"

Dev groaned and began to bordely pick at her nails. "Why are you asking me? You're the priestess. You're supposed to know how to deal with demons. I don't know anything about this guy." She paused, looking up at her. "You could tell him the truth." She smiled.

Kagome glared at her. "Yeah right. He'd think I'm crazy."

Dev chuckled and looked to Sesshomaru's angered expression. "Considering that he sees you to be conversing with the arm of a chair, I think he already thinks you're crazy."

Kagome growled at her for a moment before Sesshomaru's voice pulled her attention to him. "You know… I'm not enduring the humiliation of having a mortal in my house to hear you babble like an idiot. Hurry up and say what you're going to say."

Kagome breathed deeply and set her jaw, grinding her teeth a few times as she mulled over possible conversations in her mind. Maybe explaining things to Sesshomaru wasn't the best idea. To be honest she needed to keep him in the dark as much as she could. She couldn't figure out what his reaction would be and, knowing Sesshomaru, he could do far worse than deny her a listening ear. She sighed. "Listen… you and I are both enemies of Naraku, aren't we?" She didn't even wait for a response. "I have a bit of a deal for you… all it requires on your part is an explination."

"Oh really?" Sesshomaru ran a hand through his hair. "An explination of what?"

"I need you to tell me what has happened to the world since the beginning of Naraku's reign." Kagome leaned foreward in her seat in what she considered to be a buisiness-like manner.

Sesshomaru stared at her for a long moment. "Let me get this straight. You left the protection of your holy Goshin Boku and came this far northwest… for a history lesson?" Kagome said nothing, yet rolled her eyes.

_I should've known he'd be difficult. But he's my only chance now._

Sesshomaru leaned lazily back in his chair, resting his chin on his fist. "And why didn't you ask your village posse for this information sans the long journey and trouble of fending off a group of demons?"

Kagome closed her eyes and took a few calming breaths, clenching her fists about her knees in familiar frustration. "I ask you this as a fellow enemy of Naraku… please, Sesshomaru."

Sesshomaru motioned to her with an open hand, his orange eyes remaining uninterested. "And in return…?"

Kagome smirked a bit. "I'll give you all the information I have on Naraku."

This seemed to pique his interest a bit and his cheek left his fist. For a moment he allowed himself to believe her. _No… that's impossible… how could a priestess from the South know more than me, a Lord of the West, about a tyrant from the North?_ His mind then drifted to her status. Even when dealing with demons, Priestesses were known for their honesty. Not to mention the fact that she had somehow known about his sword Tenseiga (which no one but he himself and Jaken had known about), and she had known about his toad-demon companion who had died over a century before she was even born. He really had no choice but to believe her. That and the possibility of gaining more information on Naraku lead him to scoff, then speak. "Naraku appeared around 500 years ago. No one really knows for certain where he came from. There are several rumors, but even demons like myself who have been around that long can't recall his origin. Some people even say that he was even human at one point. But anyway, soon after his emergance, there was a great war in the South between two feudal Lords. After the battle, the victor, a Lord from the Southwest, and his army were heading back home when they came upon a lone man. The man was no mortal, but in fact Naraku. They say that he immediately set upon them and devoured every one of them. Later on, he began going after demons. It was discovered that Naraku coulddraw inthe energy and life force of those he absorbed and could add their power to his own.

"It wsn't long before his ambitions grew to encompass the entirety of the South. His ambition was almost realized, but he couldn't overcome the Goshin Boku and the surrounding area, actually being injured in the process of trying. He fled to the East. He raised an army there, and the East was soon overtaken. After the East, he came after the West. I was able to fend him off, but much of my lands were destroyed, and still to this day remain uninhabitable. Naraku seemed to, for a while, leave me alone. I wasn't openly attacking him, so he was fine with my presence. Finally, he moved North, and after it was overcome, he made that area his headquarters. The humans, for the most part stay in the South around the Goshin Boku, and here in my territory. I'm fine with them as long as they leave me alone. There are rumors that there could be humans in the North, but I highly doubt it. Not too many humans can survive in his miasma."

Kagome nodded slowly. "Odd… I naturally assumed you'd be an enemy of Naraku."

"I am." Sesshomaru grunted.

Kagome rolled her eyes. "I figured out that much, since you seem interested in my information on him. Why the change of heart?"

"Many of Naraku's demons began attacking my territory, trying to take it over. He seems to think that by destroying the human villages, he'll weaken my power. I've always been able to fend them off before, but today there was a legion of them."

Kagome shrugged. "He must be considering you to be a threat if you were to side with the humans."

"He gains more power all the time. I'm guessing he got some more power, and thought a bit too much of it." Sesshomaru faintly chuckled at Naraku's mistake, and his orange eyes sparkled with the arrogance that Kagome resented him for.

She heaved an exasperated sigh. "Oh, get over yourself. The only reason you even survived today's attack was because I helped you out."

Sesshomaru's eyes turned from arrogant to enraged in an instant. "I would not speak so, Priestess. Remember… you are in my territory." Kagome said nothing, but leaned back in her chair, letting him know he could continue. "And now for your part. Tell me something I don't know about Naraku."

Kagome sighed again. "Well… I suppose the main thing is that the rumors about Naraku once being human… those are true. Naraku was once a human named Onigumo. He was badly burned from fire, and both his legs were broken. To heal his body, he allowed hundreds of demons to devoure him, and it gave him his absorption powers, and shape-shifting powers."

Sessomaru's eyes narrowed. "He can change his form?"

Kagome nodded, her eyes questioning. "You didn't know that?" Sesshomaru shook his head. "His shape-shifting abilities are actually what got your brother killed." She paused before continuing. "And considering his human heart still beats within him, what does that say about his true form?"

Sesshomaru smirked. "Hanyou ga.(1)" He snarled. Kagome nodded.

"Exactly. Naraku is only half demon. The other half is the human heart of the bandit, Onigumo."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"'Over the hill to the North,' he says…" Kagome groaned, trudging up a rather large hill. She glanced back at the way they had come from in the direction of Sesshomaru's long since vanished castle. "We've been walking for six hours. How far away is this place?"

"Quit complaining." Dev commanded. "Sesshomaru's dog form is pretty fast. We traveled a long way away from the center of Japan in a short amount of time. You should expect it to take a long time to get anywhere."

Kagome waved to the sky. "Why don't you scout around a bit? I'll rest here." Dev huffed and shot higher to examine the surrounding area.

After a moment, she called down to Kagome, "Why are we headed for this forsaken village, again? Why don't we head back to the Goshin Boku villages?"

Kagome shrugged a bit. "Well... I figure we might as well sum up our strengths, ne? I mean... we've gotta do something about Naraku. If we don't... who will? And we're not going to take him down with a pack of humans. We've gotta find out how much strength we have available to us. So we might as well go looking for information."

Dev sighed, shaking her head. "Well, that's fine, but I don't suppose next time we could take some security with us? We don't know what's out here."

Kagome plopped back onto her butt and placed her elbow on her knee. "What are you worried about? Enemies can't see you. Unless they're some kind of freakish evil priest, I don't think you have anything to worry about."

Dev rolled her eyes and said nothing, her eyes still scanning the area. They soon lit up and she pointed to the east. "There! There's a little village up ahead!" Kagome stood and followed Dev as the latter took off in the indicated direction. As she came over the hill, she saw what Dev had identified as a village. It wasn't much of a village at all. There was perhaps one building standing, and even the side of that one had caved in, leaving a slanted structure. The rest of the village seemed to be one heaping pile of stone and cloth, the buildings having collapsed and run into each other, as if to make one great hulking pile. Most of the roads that she could see were clear, only a few of them had been cut off completely due to collapsed buildings.

_Cleared roads...? Does someone live here?_ She inquired to herself as she set foot on one of the largest roads she had seen in the village. She glanced around at the collapsed shops and blushed as her stomach growled. _Oog... I wonger if there's any food around here..._ She then blanched as she thought about what kind of food would be here if any.

Dev and Kagome kept silent, as if sneaking around enemy territory even though... theoretically... Sesshomaru's land was allied with the South if only to defeat Naraku.An oddpoke in the back of her mind caused her to stop walking. _Is someone following me?_ She was about to turn around when a bright flash blinded her, causing her to stumble backwards a few paces.An intangible force suddenly pulled her arms to her sides and her legs together, and she soon toppled over onto her back, cringing as the impact jarred her shoulder. Dev was lying beside her, cursing quietly, attempting to move her frozen wings. Kagome tried to look up to the area that had been behind her, with litle luck. It seemed like her entire body was frozen. There were heavy footsteps approaching.

"Well well... what have we here..?" A male voice inquired slowly. "Ah... a bow and some arrows. Nice." His footsteps suddenly halted. "Wait..." He was suddenly in front of her, kneeling down to get a closer look at her face. Kagome raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you...?" Kagome blinked at him a few times before he answered his half-spoken question. "Priestess Kikyo-sama!" His green eyes went wide. He snapped his fingers and the spell holding Kagome frozen lifted, allowing her to sit up. "Oh god... I'm sorry.I only saw you from behind, so I didn't know it was you." He offered his right hand to her. "Need a hand?"

Kagome took this moment to look him over as he pulled her to her feet. His kimono's design was typical for one of the Edo period, the long baggy pants and the wrap-over top. The top, however, was rather odd. It was left open, not tucked into his pants, like it would be traditionally. Not only did it hang open to allow one to see his built chest, but it was also sleeveless, allowing his arms to be seen as well. His hair was long and black, reaching almost to his hips, caught in a simple ponytail at the base of his skull. Her eyes ran along the arm that had been offered to her. His forearm and hand wore a purple fingerless glove, held to his hand by his thumb and pinki.An extra piece of cloth was attatched to his middle finger and hung down to be tucked into the rest of the glove. His left hand wore the same glove, but lacked the extra piece of cloth and the pearl bracelet that hung from the right wrist. Along his exposed arm and chest her eyes lingered. They were covered in laceration scars. At least fifty percent of the scars visible were on his right arm, the rest spread out across his torso and left arm. She blushed, realizing she was staring and her eyes flew to his face. His eyes were a pretty forest green, and struck her as faintly familiar, but she brushed it off.

"I'm Okuri." He said finally. He seemed to be fully aware of her staring and held up his right arm. "These?" He twisted his arm a bit as if examining the scars himself.

"I didn't mean to stare." Kagome looked down.

Okuri shook his head. "Don't worry about it. They are pretty obvious."

Kagome glanced back to his right arm. "Why are there so many?" she breathed.

Okuri shrugged and didn't answer for a bit. "Let's just say I'm not too popular around here." He chuckled ruefully. "You can't expect a human to live unscathed in a world where demons reign." He paused, and his face turned slightly serious. "One has to wonder what Kikyo-sama is doing so far away from the Goshin Boku villages. This is way out of your territory. It's dangerous out here, and humanity can't stand to lose its most powerful priestess.

Kagome smiled. "Well... I'm trying to..." She stopped, rethinking her answer. The truth was pretty rediculous. She wasn't quite sure she understood the whole issue of the changing realities herself. She shook her head, causing Okuri to raise an eyebrow at her. "I'm trying to gather information. I'm trying to find out if we can gather the strength to launch an attack on Naraku." She held up her index finger. "And you can call me Kagome."

"Kagome...?" Okuri rolled the new name over his tongue.

"Yeah. Kagome is my real name."

"Hel-lo!" Kagome and Okuri looked down to see the still-frozen form of Dev wriggling about on the ground. "Intros are great, but could you please let me go!"

Okuri's eyes widened. "Wow... what the heck is _that_?"

Kagome giggled lightly. "That's Dev. She's a... time sprite." She emphacized the last two words as Okuri snapped his fingers and the sprite was released. Kagome stopped. "Wait... you can see her?"

Okuri raised an eyebrow at her again. "Of course. Why?"

"Kagome-san..." Dev whispered, pointing at his right arm. Kagome waved her off.

"Well... only those with unusually strong spiritual powers can see her... that's all."

"Well, of course I have strong spiritual power." Okuri chuckled and pointed at himself. "I was able to freeze you in place, wasn't I? I come from a long like of priests and monks." He informed her proudly.

"I see..." Kagome nodded.

"Kagome-san..." Dev repeated, still pointing at his right arm. Kagome waved at her again.

"Okuri... I hope you don't mind me asking, but... why is it that your right arm is scarred so badly?"

Okuri paused, then opened his mouth to speak, but a shriek from Dev cut him off. "Hey! What the hell are you doing!" Dev suddenly screamed, forcing the others' attention to a young man who was about to pick up Kagome's fallen bow.

Okuri was the first to act, jumping after the thief and catching him before he could take a full step away. Okuri smirked. "Ah. A Katsu lackey, eh? I haven't seen one of you guys around here since I kicked your leader's butt."

"You haven't changed, Okuri." A voice commented dryly. Attention was pulled this time to a larger group of humans standing not ten yards away. The one whom had spoken stood a few feet in front of the group. He was a tall, dark-skinned man with a baggy kimono and a rolled ciggarette in his mouth. "And that's about to be fixed. There are a lot of changes about to happen in this little area. See... Naraku-sama's been trying to take over this are for a while, and well... the villages are the only thing he can reach. That damned Dog-General has been rather persistant. So... this town is gonna have to go. And you're gonna go with it."

Okuri put his hands on his hips. "Sorry, but I'm gonna have to ask you to leave. My village has a strict rule agianst baboons. This is not a zoo, so get your freak show out of here."

"It's not your village anymore. This place belongs to Naraku-sama, and it now has a strict rule against foolish humans."

"Then I suppose you guys should get outta here, huh?"

The leader growled. "Listen. You don't own this place any more, so you should leave, right now."

"Another challenge, Katsu?" Okuri growled, his smile vanishing and his legs spreading to form a fighting stance. "You remember what happened last time, don't you?"

Katsu gave a lazy shrug. "Of course I remember. But I've changed, and my friends here have given me some interesting information on you that could possibly tilt the scale in my favor." He motioned to the group standing behind him. "Spies are a good advantage to having a popular side. You should try it sometime."

Okuri shook his head. "I don't need anyone to help me. And popular side? I don't care if it is popular. I'm not going to work with bastards trying to worm their way into Naraku's ranks. I am going to _kill_ Naraku, and I'll only accept those with that same goal to my side." Katsu's smile wilted and Okuri's reappeared. "You realize one thing that hasn't changed...?" He held out his right hand, as if taunting them.

"You wouldn't use that on humans. That is a law your ancestors made generations ago. Even I know that." Katsu informed him arrogantly.

Okuri chuckled. "That's a big risk to take... Times have changed. Humans are not as harmless and innocent as they were when that law was created. I have no higher opinion of humans that work for Naraku than I have for demons." Okuri growled.

"I can't say I have a very high opinion of lone wolf demons who can't seem to get it through their heads that defying Naraku-sama will result in nothing. Those who have power make the rules. Your opinion is worthless!" Katsu cried, his face full of only rage now. Kagome could tell he was losing his cool.

"Just try me, Katsu... I dare you..." Okuri muttered dangerously. Kagome picked up her abandoned bow and quiver.

Katsu gave a sigh as if to calm himself. "I'll give you one more chance, kid. Give up this little village of yours, and you can live. I'll even add you to our little family. It would be a shame to waste a person like you with such... talents."

"Keep on dreaming, Katsu. I don't work for Naraku. I never have, and I never will. I would be a fool to join him after all the effort my family has put into defying him over the years."

"Yeah... I think even Naraku-sama has admitted that your family is quite the pain in the ass. A pain, but nothing more. He could squash you like a bug any time he wants."

"Then why hasn't he?" Okuri challenged. Katsu growled at him, his eyes flickering with hate. "Kill him..." Katsu ordered simply. Several of the humans behind him nodded and began moving foreward, brandishing weapons, and plastering smirks to faces. Okuri did not allow himself to retreat even a step.

Kagome growled at them and slowly pulled an arrow into her bowstring, aiming it at the nearest humans. Her face was confident, but her arm shook. Not only from pain, but at the realization of what she was about to do. Killing demons was one thing, but killing humans? She had never before taken a human's life, and it certainly did seem different, though she had always thought all murder was the same. Killing a bloodthirsty demon had to be in some way different than killing a human thug. But... killing her own kind gave her a cold chill. If she did that, what separated her from the ruthless demons that ate their own every day? She relaxed the string and slipped the arrow back into her quiver, silently apologizing to Okuri. She couldn't fight at her best like this, but it would have to do. She didn't have the spirit in her to kill other humans. She was armed now simply with her bow, charged with energy in case one got too close.

Okuri sighed and held out his right hand again. "I don't want to have to do this, but you know I'm really tired and I'm just not interested in fighting right now."

"My heart bleeds..." Katsu sighed. "Go!"

Kagome, without full awareness of what she was doing, rushed foreward, holding her bow out before her. "Stop!" The group seemed to do what she asked and halted their charge. Whispers of her title were sent throughout the small crowd until Katsu gave a hearty laugh.

"This is a fortuitous day indeed. The infamous Okuri and the all-powerful Priestess Kikyo-sama. If I take you both down at once, Naraku will reward me quite handsomely, I would say," he smiled. "Kill them both!" The group hesitated and Katsu looked around. "What's wrong with you?"

One of the women stepped up, brushing a few locks of ebony hair from her eyes. "Katsu-sama… I don't mean to intrude upon your commands, but you do understand who you are dealing with, right? This is Miroku Okuri, decended from the most powerful Monk in history." She pointed at Okuri.

Kagome froze._Miroku Okuri?_She looked at Okuri. _Is he a decendant of Miroku perhaps? I thought there might be a connection beacuse of that right hand... but... could he be...?_

Okuri said nothing, only smirked at them. The woman continued. "And that's Miko (2)Kikyo-sama. She's the most powerful human in existance. You can't expect our men to go against them both and survive."

Katsu waved her away. "You've gone against Okuri before. And as for the priestess…" He smiled at her. "I overheard the report from the cat demons that were sent to attack your village priestess. And it seems as though they discovered that you had changed. Number one, you have a severe wound in your left shoulder. Second, you seemed to be struggling greatly in the last battle. You have weakened considerably, Priestess."

Kagome gave a smirk she hoped was confident. "You think so, do you?" She held up her bow. "Care to test me on that?"

Katsu scoffed and pointed at her. "Go, now!" Again, there was hesitance, but then the group seemed to decide that death at the hands of the two holy ones would be more pleasant than death at the hands of Katsu, or even Naraku. Kagome grunted as a few of them came at her. She knew she would not have to kill them, only deter them. But still… it was rare that she had to fight against humans. Usually, her power was only deployed in situations involving demons, and using retraint was a handicap.

Her eyes went wide as a firm grip was established on the back of her kimono and she was roughly pulled backward, away from the advancing group. Okuri growled at the oncoming enemies and stopped them with a motion from his right hand. "Okuri-sama…" Kagome whispered. "You can't take them all on. There's too many. I can take care of myself. My wound is almost healed."

Okuri shook his head. "No. I can't take them all on, and you can't take them all on. Not like this." His eyes remained focused on the frozen humans before him. "Kikyo-sama is trained to deal with demons in order to protect humans. Kikyo-sama would be going against her duty and her code to attack humans, no matter what type of human they are. You cannot fight in this."

Kagome sat up straight. "But Okuri-sama.!"

Okuri smiled down at her. "Don't worry, Kagome-sama… we will not submit to them either." He grabbed hold of the small pearl bracelet around his wrist. "Now I will show you why my family is so infamous!" He tore the bracelet from his wrist and already, men and women alike were scrambling to get out of the way. "Kazaana!" The black hole revealed itself from beneath his glove, showing its familiar howl and glorious danger to the girl at his side. Kagome smiled.

"A direct decendant of Miroku-sama… His line is still in this world… I'm glad." She watched as the men that once clung proudly to Katsu now turned tail and ran in the opposite direction, thanking the gods that they had survived. Kagome watched in renewed awe at the cursed black hole. The curse had apparently been passed through 500 years of lineage. And yet… despite how many lives that it undoubtedly took, they still saw it as a weapon just as much as they saw it a curse… turning their fear into courage and their pain into strength. Maybe it was hereditary, this odd strength of theirs.

"Houshi-kun! Look out!" Dev screeched a warning a second too late as one of the many lackeys appeared next to him and with a grunt flung a schythe downward at his arm. Though his arm was not severed, he cried out at the deep gash he received. He quickly sealed his Kazaana as his hand dropped weakly to his side.

"Chikuso…" He muttered. The man seemed to wind up to finish his job, but Kagome leapt into the way, throwing her bow outward to touch the tip to the man's neck, as if she held him at sword point.

"Get away." She commanded. The man immediately backed down and scurried back over to where Katsu sat, gaining his equilibrium back after the viscious winds had taken it. She turned on her heel and in a second, had launched an arrow directly at Katsu's feet, allowing it to explode with purple light. Katsu stared at it for a moment. "Get out, now!" She cried again. The group seemed to consider it for a moment, then turned around, gathering up their leader, and took off. Kaomge took a second to wonder at how much power her own eyes seemed to hold since they had been sucessful in driving off humans and demons alike.

Okuri stood slightly, his arm held tight against his body, blood spilling onto his kimono. "Why that lousy son of a…!" He cut himself off with a hiss through clenched teeth.

Kagome collapsed beside him, taking a deep breath before turning back to him. "Now calm down." She gingerly took his arm and set it on her lep, never minding the blood that spilled onto her kimono. "Let's see." She looked his arm over and covered the newest gash with her hand in an effort to halt the bloodflow. He hissed again and squirmed. "Hold still." She chuckled weakly. He relaxed as she tore a strip of cloth from her sleeve and began to gently wrap the wound. "You have someplace you usually stay, don't you? One of these houses, maybe?" Kagome looked up.

"Uhhh… yeah. Why?" Okuri watched the wound vanish under the wrap.

"You mind if we head there? We need to wash that." Kagome requested, tying the make-shift bandage off and standing. Okuri stood as well, leading her down the street.

* * *

Kitty-chan: Once again, having stopping point problems. XD As I wrote this, I never separated it into chapters, so I'm hoping that these chapters seem good length and cut off at good points. Well... I'm having fun with the next chapter. I think you'll like it. I'll even put a preview down here. Oh! But first, Translations!

1 Hanyou ga : Half demon (ga is a particle, identifying hanyou as the subject)  
2 Miko: Priestess

Okay... here's a little preview for you!

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"Listen... you wouldn't believe me if I told you why, but trust me when I say, 'I knew Miroku-sama personally'."

* * *

Okuri smiled. "You have my assistance, My Lady."

* * *

"Inuyasha!" Kagome suddenly yelled, causing Okuri to leap in his chair and Dev to tumble down the bandit's arm.

* * *

Sesshomaru yawned and lay back down, throwing a forearm across his eyes. "Why should I?" he demanded again.

"You owe her! She saved your life, you ungrateful dog!" she answered angrily.

Sesshomaru sat up again, an exasperated expression on his face. "Damn her..."

* * *

Kitty-chan: That's all I'll give you for now, but review and tell me what you think! Flames accepted.


	6. Revival of a Hanyou

Kitty-chan: Ooooh... I had so much fun writing this chapter. To all you Sesshy fans out there, we've got a little Sesshomaru goodness in here. It's not like me to compliment Sesshomaru, but whatever. Sooo... yeah. The only thing I gotta say is... enjoy the chapter! That and I don't own Inuyasha or any of the characters save for Miidori, Okuri, Dev, Kawaru... and a few other random people in here. XD

* * *

"So… you have the Kazaana in your right hand. That would prove your heritage, I suppose." Kagome stated, running a wet cloth over his newest gash. Okuri said nothing for a moment, simply nodding. "And that pearl rosary you have seals it in, correct?"

Okuri paused. "That's right…" He reguarded her with a guilty suspicion for a moment. He had indeed been saved by this woman, but this knowledge was only known to those with whom he had fought before. How could she possibly know this? "Though I have to say I wonder how you know something like that."

Kagome smiled weakly. " It makes sense, I suppose." She muttered, almost ignoring him for the moment. "Naraku is still alive meaning that the curse hasn't been lifted from your family."

At this, Okuri gently pulled his arm away. "Just how do you know about my family and Naraku. No one is really supposed to know that Naraku was the one who cursed us. How do you?"

Kagome raised an eyebrow at him. "No one's supposed to know? Why not? What's the problem with knowing that Naraku was the one that cursed you?"

"Having any kind of connection with Naraku at all screams connection. You know how rumors and things start and get distorted. My father made me promise not to tell, or else our family name and the name of Miroku-sama could be tarnished forever. The most likely distortion that could be possible if the story got out would be that I am in fact in league with Naraku. You know how people talke." He paused. "Now… how do you know about my family and Naraku?"

Kagome gave a heavy sigh. "Okuri-sama… you have to understand. I am… not like other people of this world. I never have been."

"That much is obvious." Okuri gave a smile that caused Kagome to relax. "If you were, I suppose you wouldn't have been chosen as Miko Kikyo-sama, ne?"

Kagome smiled back, then looked down, shaking her head. "Listen… you wouldn't believe me if I told you why, but trust me when I say, 'I knew Miroku-sama personally'." She gave him an intense stare. "I know a lot more about your family than you think I do."

Okuri was silent for a long time. This was Kikyo-sama he was talking to, so technically, he had every reason to believe her. Kikyo-sama was chosen for her honesty and purity in addition to her power, courage, and wisdom. She was the leader of the remaining humans in this land and if he didn't believe in her, who did he believe in? The chances that she was lying was about one to a million, not to mention that she had known about his connection with Naraku from the beginning. But still… it was so absurd that she could know one 500 years dead, that part of his brain just couldn't force himself to believe her. "Prove it." He said boldly, praying that the words wouldn't upset her. "Tell me something that you would know only if you had met Miroku-sama."

Kagome paused for a moment. He half-felt like she shouldn't have to prove herself beyond telling him about Naraku's curse, considering she had already suffered enough frustration at Sesshomaru's hands over the same situation. But considering her mission was to raise an army against Naraku, proving her sanity was an important part of meeting allies. And she had to admit that much of what she said did sound like the babblings of a woman mentally unsound. She finally chuckled. "Oh where do I start? He's a pretty open pervert. His favorite thing to do tended to be stroking a woman's butt. Not to mention he could be a downright conman when he wanted to be." She chuckled weakly.

Okuri's star was blank for a moment. He soon smiled and bowed his head. "Fine." He muttered, relaxing his arm back into her hands. "Miroku-sama is revered to have been the most influential humans and greatest monks who ever lived. He raised a small army against Naraku before he died of severe poisoning. Only one who had met him personally would know such interesting quirks since no one normally of this world would care to tarnish his name with such qualities." Kagome nodded. "So… what exactly are you planning to do from here? Defeating Naraku isn't something easily taken on by a few humans."

Kagome looked up, hope in her eyes. "We?"

Okuri smiled. "You have my assistance, My Lady."

Kagome grinned and returned to cleaning his wound. "I think you'll find we have more allies than you'd expect."

"The problem is, they're all human." Dev put in from her place on Okuri's shoulder.

"Not all of them." Kagome reminded her. "We have Dog-General Sesshomaru from the West. He may be difficult, but it's pretty obvious where his loyalties lie. He's very powerful. And surely there are other strong demons that oppose Naraku. An unquestioned tyrant has no shortage of enemies. Any type of government probably has some type of small army in opposition to their rule. The armies become stronger the more power the leader of the government has."

"Maybe so, but we'd have to find the demons that oppose him, and actually convince them to act with us. The reason no one has tried to rise against him since Miroku-sama tried is because no one believes we have enough power." Okuri mumbled.

"Oh we have the power needed. The only thing is, it's spread out all over Japan and there's no one unifying person or force. Nothing to bring them all together in a unified attack." Kagome answered back. "We just have to find the scattered powers and bring them together. Wherever they are. We have to find them first. Considering Naraku's power and his punishment for opposing forces… all the powers we need are in hiding."

"How many do you know of personally, Houshi-kun?" dev inquired, looking to him.

Okuri paused and craned his neck to look at her. "Hard to say. These days most of what you hear are simply legend and rumor. It's hard to find the reality buried in the talk. If there is any reality in it at all, that is. All I know of are simply rumors and legends." Kagome and Dev remained quiet, urging him to continue. "Well… there's one legend that people seem convinced is true. It came from an old soothsayer in the east about 100 years ago. At least that's what I've heard. It's one of the oldest legends in this land. Naraku has pretty much ignored it since he seems to think nothing can get in his way… but… the legend basically says that when the time comes to defeat Naraku, it will be done by three warriors, one from each race; the warrior of the sun… the warrior of the moon… and a mysterious warrior that is neither the sun nor the moon." Kagome raised an eyebrow at him. Okuri waved his hands. "What? I didn't make it up. I'm only telling you the legend."

Kagome shook her head. "We'll worry about that later. What about the rumors?"

"I've heard many things from people passing through my village. One thing that keeps coming up is an idea that probably spawned off the legend in some way. It states that when an army is ready to rise against Naraku… every part of this land will lend an army. They say that when the time is right, the humans from the South will ally with the leader from the West and launch an attack on Naraku."

"You said every part of this land. What about the East and the North?" Dev inquired.

"Well… rumor has it that there is an entire demon army in the East, waiting for a cry of battle from the West or the North and will fight then." Okuri explained.

"And what about the North?" Kagome continued, pulling out some proper bandages as she finished cleaning and began wrapping.

"The North is a little weird. It's generally accepted that the army against Naraku in the North is all humans. A few say that there are demons as well, but most believe that any demons up there are in Naraku's service. As for the humans… some say that it is humans once loyal to Naraku that will turn on him in the right hour, and others say that it is humans living in secret that will aide."

"Well… I dunno about the legend, but the rumors are worth a shot. What's to lose if we fail? We'd just need to look for them." Dev suggested. "Right now we're trying to sum up our strengths, find out where we can pull strength from to form an army.

"Well, there's not much to lose, to be honest." Okuri shrugged. "But the problem is how? How are we going to convince the humans left to leave their protection? The West might not be a big deal since most of them would gladly go to war for the Dog-General. They worship that guy. But the South is a problem. After all… no one's going to go to war for a tree. They don't see any reason to leave the protection of their Goshin Boku. They won't leave unless we show them that we have enough power to support a resistance. Unless our power outweighs the power of the Goshin Boku, then they're not going to leave it to come with us."

"But that's the problem. Even you and I don't stand up to the power of the Goshin Boku tree, Okuri-sama. We would have to find someone else." Kagome heaved a heavy sigh.

Okuri nodded. "True. Not unless we can turn that tree into a warrior, they're not going to join us."

"Turn the tree into a warrior?" Kagome chuckled, but she then froze as a memory hit her.

Flashback

"_I don't know what the hell this wind is, but I won't let it hurt…" Inuyasha trailed off as he spotted something in the distance._

_A bow with an arrow drawn to the string._

"_Inuyasha?" Kagome looked up, horrified that the wind might've affected him as well. She noticed his stare was aimed behind her, so she too took a glance behind her to see the oddly suspended weapon._

_The arrow released, vanishing into motion and reappearing when the tip imbedded itself in Inuyasha's chest. Inuyasha screamed as not only the pain of the arrow shot through his chest as his weight left the ground and he found himself suspended by the arrow, but also at the painful memories that the weapon managed to dig up._

"_Inuyasha!" Kagome immediately grabbed the arrow in an attempt to free him as she had before, but unlike last time, the arrow would not relinquish its hostage. "Inuyasha! Please stay with me! I can't get the arrow out! Open your eyes!"_

_Slowly, Inuyasha obeyed, fixing her with his orange gaze, glazed with death. He suddenly grabbed her and weakly pulled her to him, deeply inhaling her scent. Kagome threw herself into the embrace, as if perhaps if she held on, he would not vanish and follow the others. "Inuyasha! You made a wish 200 years ago, right? How do you stop this wind? I have to stop this wind so that it'll stop hurting all of you!"_

_She could feel his body shake as he summoned the last bit of his strength to answer. "It's not… the wind." She froze, not bothering to ask the question that she knew he would next answer. "It's… your wish."_

_Kagome pulled away slightly as his head dropped to rest his chin on his chest, and his arms fell limply at his sides. "What! My wish? I didn't want this! No!"_

"_Don't… forget me… wherever you…end up." He moaned as his consciousness began to flee. "… and I won't… forget you." Darkness swallowed his vision._

_Kagome watched in helpless horror as his form plastered itself to a tree and he melted away into the dark. "Inuyasha!"_

End Flashback

"Inuyasha!" Kagome suddenly yelled, causing Okuri to leap in his chair and Dev to tumble down the bandit's arm.

"What? Who?" Okuri inquired, shakily, hanging onto the chair's arms.

"Kagome-san… I've told you a million times already! Inuyasha is dead!" Dev cried, getting to her knees.

"I know that. When Kikyo sealed him to the tree, he was officially dead. His heart and his breathing stopped. But just because time has passed, doesn't mean he can't still be revived." Kagome insisted.

"Kagome-san…" Dev trailed off and shrugged. "You lost me."

"Listen… 500 years ago, Inuyasha was sealed to the Goshin Boku tree, correct?" Dev nodded. "So, that means he's still in there. You probably can't see him because the tree has grown around him. He's still under Kikyo's spell."

"Wait a minute." Okuri interjected, holding up a hand. "You're talking about the creature inside the Goshin Boku tree? That's just a rumor. The Holy tree was blessed by the original Kikyo-sama 500 years ago. That's what gives it its power to protect."

Kagome shook her head. "No! That's not true! Inuyasha is in that tree, and I'm going to get him out."

"Kagome-sama… they're not going to let you dig some fanciful creature out of their tre. Even if he did exist, not even a Kikyo-sama is going to be allowed to touch the one thing keeping Naraku from completely taking over the South." Okuri shook his head.

"They can't keep Inuyasha like that, Okuri. It's not fair for those people to sacrifice his freedom for their own protection. Inuyasha was sealed there for something he didn't do, and it's not fair that his power be exploited." Kagome muttered. Okuri sighed. "We just need to keep the villagers away from me long enough for me to dig him out."

Dev floated up between them. "Well… I have an idea if Houshi-kun can help out."

"Sure… I'll do what I can." Okuri shrugged.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.

The next day found Kagome and Okuri crouching behind a few crates kept outside the village. "That was a long trip beack down here, Okuri-sama. You gonna be alright? You sure you can still do this?" Kagome whispered, crouching a bit lower.

"Yes. It's just a simple barrier. I have to put them up all the time to keep demons out of my village. And oftentimes after I've fought them for a while. I can do them while I'm tired." Okuri assured her.

"Alright. The barrier has to go up immediately and use your energy sparingly. Considering how deep he's probably buried, I don't know how long it's going to take." Kagome warned him.

"Kikyo-sama?" a young voice inquired. Kagome froze and spun to face Miidori, peering over the crates at the three of them. She smiled nad looked about to proclaim the priestess' return when Kagome and Okuri both grabbed her and pulled her down behind the crates with them, each clapping a hand over her mouth.

"Shh!" Okuri hissed.

"If anyone finds out I'm back, we'll never get anywhere near that tree. And I don't think they'll welcome strangers, especially with all the humans working for Naraku. You'd probably be kicked out." She looked to her heir. "Miidori-chan, if we let you go, will you please keep quiet?" Kagome whispered. The small apprentice nodded meekly and as she was released, kept her word and her voice remained low.

"Kikyo-sama… what's going on? Why are you hiding?" she inquired softly.

"Miidori-chan, you're going to have to trust me, alright?" Kagome breathed back. She smiled and put a hand on the girl's head. Miidori in return nodded. "Can you stay here and wait for us?" Miidori nodded dutifully.

"Wait… I have a better idea." Dev held up a tiny finger. The three looked at her, Miidori quirking an eyebrow. "Miidori-chan can go and find some tools for us to use. She can find shovels and things and bring them to us."

Kagome's face brightened. "Can you do that for us, Miidori-chan?" The girl paused, then nodded, pointing at Dev.

"Hai… but Kikyo-sama… why do you have a fairy with you?" Dev seethed for a moment, then took a moment to calm herself, Okuri scooting away a bit, worrying she might just pop.

Kagome smiled and shook her head. "Don't you worry about that, Miidori-chan. Meet us under the Goshin Boku when you've got the tools, alright?" The girl glanced to the Goshin Boku, not fully aware of their plans, but nodded again and darted off toward a small shed several yards away, fully trusting the integrity of their requests. Kagome, Okuri, and Dev waited for several moments, giving the yougner priestess time to gather the available tools. After a short amount of time, they headed out from behind the crates, attempting to make it to the tree before spotted by too many villagers. As soon as they were inside the shade of the tree, Okuri plopped down, put his hands together, and began to concentrate, Kagome and Dev fixating their eyes on the door of the storehouse Miidori had gone into.

As the outline for a barrier began to form around the holy tree, Miidori suddenly dashed out of the storehouse as if thrown. She reached the tree and unburdened her arms of the sovels, picks and a few spears she had gathered. Kagome patted her on the head. "Great, Miidori-chan. Thank you." She then looked to Okuri and could almost see the barrier erect itself around the area. A few curious villagers approached, first proclaiming Kikyo-sama's return, then sending peculiar stares at her, wondering what she could be doing.

Kagome wasted no time in seizing a shovel, and thrusting it into the bark as hard as she could, then pulling it away, removing a small chunk of wood. Right then, she knew this was not going to be easy, for not only did she use all the strength in her arm to pull away that tiny piece, but she was getting an incredibly loud protest from the surrounding villagers. They were not only yelling loudly, but they were also calling the attention of any villager who had not discovered the atrocity occuring. Miidori did not fail to add her voice.

"Kikyo-sama! What are you doing to the Goshin Boku! Have you gone mad?" she inquired as if nearing hysterics.

Kagome dug the shovel in again before pausing and putting her fre hand on the girl's shoulder. "Miidori-chan, I asked you before to trust me. Do you?" The girl nodded, hesitantly, looking from Kagome's face, to the tree, then back to Kagome again. "Then please… help me." Miidori stood in indecision for a moment, taking a wary glance over toward the raging villagers, then back to Kagome. Finally, her young face set with determination, she picked up a smaller shovel and dug it into the tree as far as her young strength would allow. Kagome smiled, and once against set upon her task.

For the next hour, they continued to hack away at the impressively solid bark. But a 500-year-old tree is not one to give way under such attacks, and after over an hour, the dent made toward their goal had not grown more than three feet in diameter and about an inch deep. Kagome wiped sweat from her brow. Weather it was from exertion or nerves caused by the villagers, she didn't know. She looked over to Okuri, then turned to Miidori, who, though weary, bravely hacked away at the wood.

"We're not even close." She glanced around, figuring she would check in on Okuri. Dev was sitting on his shoulder, as if trying to help him in some way. "We need more help." She glanced around at the angry locals. "And I doubt they're going to lend us any help."

Dev suddenly appeared before Kagome's face, putting her hands on the bridge of the priestess' nose. "Kagome-san… we need to hurry this up. Houshi-kun's not gonna last much longer."

"Huh?" Kagome hurried over to where Okuri sat while Dev kept an eye on Miidori. "Okuri-sama?" The bandit failed to respond, and upon closer inspection, Kagome could see a small bit of sweat trickling down his face. "Okuri-sama? How much longer do you think you can support the barrier?"

Okuri shook his head. "Not too much longer." He muttered, tight-lipped. "Never had to do this for more than about 45 minutes."

Kagome sighed. "You could've told me that sooner. We're not even close to being done." She glanced to Miidori, then called over to Dev. "Hey, Dev! Advice needed."

Dev flitted over to her and Kagome held out her hand to allow her to relax there. "Yes?"

"We have a long way to go, and Okuri-sama's about to collapse. We need more help. Have any ideas?" Kagome explained quickly.

Dev thought for a moment, crossing her legs and sitting down on Kagome's palm. "I had a feeling this would happen. Houshi-kun may have a lot of power, but he doesn't know how to use it properly. But I think I have an idea." She shot over to Miidori. "Miidori-chan. You're only an apprentice, but you should know simple energy transfer, correct?" Miidori nodded distractedly and chopped the shovel into the wood again. "Listen… I need you to feed your energy into Houshi-kun's power store to help him sustain the barrier until I get back, alright?" Miidori looked to Dev, then to Okuri, and finally to Kagome as if asking permission to halt her assigned task. Kagome nodded seriously. Miidori smiled and dropped the shovel to dash to Okuri's side, putting her hands on his shoulders and allowing her spiritual energy to leak through her fingers and enter Okuri's body. Okuri straightened some as more strength was found and Dev looked to Kagome, pointing at the tree. "You keep working. I'm going to get us some help."

Kagome picked up her shovel, but paused before digging it into the bark again. "Dev, who is possibly going to help us with something like this?"

"I have someone in mind." Dev cried back as she streaked away from the tree and out of the village, unseen by the villagers.

"Hurry…" Kagome breathed as she attacked the tree once more.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Great…" Dev muttered to herself. "Now what? I may be able to find him easily enough, but how do I get him to notice me? He can't even see me." She sighed and considered her options. "I could write something on a piece of paper, but someone like him is rather less inclined to believe disembodied messages, written or no. He has to see me to do anything." She paused in her thought, her thinking going deep enough that her flight even slowed. "Well… what about…? It's only been theory up until now, but with the alteration… I'll bet I can do it!" She held out her hands to open a wormhole, rolling her eyes. "Hope I have enough energy to get back afterwards."

Dev dashed into the wormhole, creating a shortcut to a large castle set on a long flat piece of land in the Western section of what was once Japan. She dashed into the nearest window, and began flying down hallways and corridors, dashing in and out of bedrooms and living rooms, searching for the castle's owner, all the while, concentrating half of her consciousness into pulling energy from the surrounding air to fully occupy her body's energy store.

"Oh where is he?" She growled, heading up to the second floor. She began to speed down a long hallway, flying in and out of the branching rooms. In one of the last rooms in the corridor, she stopped, squinting at the bed through the darkness. There was a giant canopied bed sitting in the center of the space, a fireplace along the adjacent wall, and a large window on either side of the bed. But it was what was in the bed that caught her eye. She flew closer to find the object of her visit slumbering quietly. Sesshomaru lay covered to the waist in thick decorated blanket, his lithe body nestled comfortably in the large fluffy boa that always sat over his shoulder. He wore, not his normal floral kimono, but a simple white one meant for either bathing or sleeping. His face looked unexpectedly elven and beautiful in the dark room, peaceful in quiet sleep.

Dev shook these thoughts from her mind and held her hands at heart-level, pulling energy from her full store. Magenta light appeared at her chest and glowed brightly, casting faint shadows on the wall, pulling her energy from the spiritual realm to the realm of the casually living. Once she was sure that her energy was fully visible, she held out her hand and gathered yet another ball of energy there, making it into a small sphere. With a grunt, she tossed the ball as if it were a projectile of snow, hitting the sleeping lord's temple as if on radar. Sesshomaru jerked awake, sitting bolt upright as an image flashed across his mind;

The Priestess Kikyo screaming at him for his assistance.

"What the hell?" he whispered.

"Hey!" He looked to the right to see a small glowing figure floating several inches away. "Sesshomaru!"

Sesshomaru stared at it for a long half-asleep, bleary-eyed moment. He then flopped back onto his furry pelt, swatting at it lazily as if trying to shoo away a fly. He was instantly asleep again. For about half a minute. This time, the entire magenta light smacked into his head, the increased force pulling him completely from his slumber. He sat up again and growled sleepily at the light. "Damn bug…" he growled.

The magenta light once again smacked him full force, this time in the nose. The image flashed across his vision again, and he pinched his nose slightly. "What?" He demanded grouchily, rather put out from having been rudely interrupted in the middle of his noontime nap.

"Kikyo-sama needs some help. Go help her Sesshomaru." It commanded.

"Wh… why should I?" he shot back, feeling rather foolish to be speaking to something he didn't really know fully existed.

"Listen, she needs your help with something and she needs it now! You need to go meet her in the Goshin Boku villages."

Sesshomaru lay back down, throwing his forearm across his eyes. "Why should I?" he repeated, desperate to get this small thing away and get back to sleep.

"You owe her! She saved your life you ungrateful dog!" she answered angrily.

Sesshomaru sat up again, an exasperated expression on his face. "Damn her…" He had to admit that he hated being indebted to a human, and considering he had a chance to repay her, he might as well get it over with. He finally flung the blankets off with frustrated vigor and stood, stretching slowly. If he was going to do anything for her, he was going to do it as fast as he damn well pleased. "She's at the Goshin Boku villages, eh? If I find out you're lying you little speck, I'll kill both you and your Preistess."

The light sighed and Sesshomaru could almost hear it roll its eyes. "Yeah yeah, just hurry."

Sesshomaru growled. Once again put out due to the bossy little firefly. He yawned slightly, rubbed a little sleep from his eyes and dashed out of the room to change clothes.

Dev sighed and the magenta light in her chest faded. Panting slightly, she held out her hands to open a wormhole to head home.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Kagome dug her shovel into the tree again and again, pulling away discouragingly small chunks of wood. She pulled her sleeve across her forehead, wiping sweat away. Her ears were beginning to ring with the sound of the protesting villagers, but she did her best to tune them out. _All I have to do is reach the arrow. I could get to him by sending a burst of energy deep into the trunk, but if I try and push a spear into it, I could hit Inuyasha. Not only that, but even assuming I could judge where he is enough not to hit him, the wood's too thick to push anything in. I need a way to soften or weaken the wood._

"Kikyo-sama!" Miidori suddenly cried, pulling Kagome's attention behind her. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of Okuri's limp body resting in Miidori's small arms. "Okuri-sama has collapsed! I'm keeping the barrier up, but it won't last long!"

"Hurry up, Dev." Kagome muttered, hacking away at the tree more vigorously than before. She needed only wait a few seconds more as a haunting roar shot through the area, silencing the villagers, and pointing all attention at the enormous dog demon stomping his way to the village entrance. An explosion of smoke and hissing shrank the dog down to a creature that, save for a few small features, looked human. Kagome's face brightened instantly. It was an odd feeling of relief that passed through her. In the normal world, this dreature's appearance would strike fear, concern, and anger into her mind, but now… he was a welcome sight. She pointed at her heir. "Miidori-chan! Let him through the barrier!" The apprentice nodded, adjusting Okuri's position in her arms and watching Sesshomaru's approach carefully, calculating the exact time to open a hole in the barrier.

Sesshomaru glanced around as he headed to where he could see the priestess standing. He then accessed the situation. Apparently she was being quite the rebel. What rebellion she was performing, he didn't know, nor did he care. He was here to close a debt and that was all. He had to admit however, that the number of humans around angered him. He really didn't want the humans assuming he made a habit of helping their kind. But he was already here. Turning and running would only put upon him the image of a coward, afraid of a young girl with spiritual prowess. Powerful prowess, but nonetheless. He headed through the group of humans surrounding the tree as they parted for him like the Red Sea. He sent glares at any who dared make eye contact with him, attempting to communicate through his eyes that he was here in a disgruntled fashion.

He waltzed through the barrier and headed for where Kagome stood. He glared down at her. "Oh yeah… you're in real danger. God forbid you suffer a scolding at the hands of the rest of this filth." He huffed sarcastically.

"Shut up." Kagome growled quietly, seeing more of Inuyasha in him than she cared to. "Sesshomaru, all I need you to do is weaken the bark right here with your poison." She put her hand on the bark directly over where she could sense the trapped hanyou.

Sesshomaru growled at her retort, but then rolled his eyes and held up his hand, claws glowing green with charged poison. At least he didn't have exert himself to accomplish his task. Having to wear himself out on account of this human would have been most mortifying. He wound his hand back to charge his claws into the wood, but Kagome grabbed his arm. "Wait… don't go too deep, alright?" Sesshomaru sighed and rolled his eyes again. He charged his hand foreward, burying his claws in the wood. With deadly accuracy, he leaked his greenish poison into the bark a few feet, stopping slightly shallow as she requested. A deep thrum sounded from the tree as the bark was instantly and roughly weakened.

After a moment, he removed his hand, shaking the access poison from his claws. He turned to leave, but stopped to look at her. "We're even." He muttered.

As he exited the barrier, Kagome whispered, "Thank you."

Sesshomaru was instantly gone.

Kagome wasted no time in seizing a spear and shoving the tip of it into the weakened bark. With a grunt, she pumped energy into the wood, shooting it through the tip and into the tree. The energy gathered within the tree and exploded with a sickening crack, sending chunks of wood to the ground around the roots. Kagome shielded her face from the smaller splinters of wood as she was blown back onto her butt by the blast. She looked up, searching the tree for something she could use. Hope shot through her body for two things were now visible.

Half of an arrow shaft, and the top of a white head decorated with a small fuzzy dog ear.

Kagome leapt to her feet, a broad smile spreading across her face, a seized the arrow shaft. With a sharp jerk, the arrow burst into a flurry of lavender light, and a red figure seemed to melt away from the tree. She allowed the figure to fall against her as the tree relinquished its 500-year captive. As she settled into a kneeling position, hugging his body against her own. She stoked the top of his head gently. "I've got you Inuyasha. You're finally free…"

"Kikyo-sama!" Miidori cried from her position, her voice terribly strained. Kagome looked up, tightening her hold on Inuyasha's body. "I can't hold up the barrier anymore! The villagers!"

Her attention was once again drawn to the villagers. Some of whom were now crying in a mix of betrayal and grief. Others simply looked completely off their rocker with rage at her disembowelment of their one protection against Naraku's pillaging onslaught. She stared around at the lot of them, her mind frantically trying to produce some kind of solution. She finally held up her hand, staring a rather loud villager down until he quieted down. She then moved her eyes to a loud woman, also staring at her until she quieted. She continued to move her eyes areound until the loudest quieted and the surrounding rioters quieted as well, the realization that something important was happening dawning on them. Once it was quiet enough that Kagome could yell loud enough to rise above those who had not yet gotten the message.

"Stop!" She cried. "Listen to me! This creature is the source of the Goshin Boku's power since he was sealed 50 years ago! This is the very source of the power that protected you! A fully sentient and powerful warrior. His power can help to bring Naraku down." There was a long pause amongst the villagers. Kagome set Inuyasha's torso gently on the ground and stood to be better heard. Not only that, but her intimate contact with Inuyasha was probably not such a good idea at this time. The villagers now doubted her intentions and her trustworthiness simply because she had taken down their 500-year form of protection. Showing the fact that she was actually in love with this half-breed would not only lose her even more trust, but also would most likely make her to seem crazy. For who could possibly bein love with a creature of myth, one that is not fully human, and one who has been sealed away for around 500 years?

"Please... as your head Priestess... I ask yo to trust me. I don't believe I have ever betrayed your trust before, and I do all this so that we may someday live in a wrld free of Naraku's hold. This creature," She motioned to Inuyasha with an open hand. "Can help bring about that world. He has the power and the will to defy and attack Naraku. I give you my word as Priestess that this is for the best intrest of our village and even the human race in decline." She felt rather odd to be using such presumptuous phrases. But when one does something as seemingly devastating as the thing that she had performed, it seemed only natural that the people offended should require large and overtly powerful words to calm their fears.

A small form pushed through the crowd after a moment. "I trust you, Kikyo-sama! And I am with you!" Kagome looked down at her younger brother and smiled at him. He smiled back at her and looked expectantly behind him as his mother and grandfather joined them.

"As are we. We are with you to the end, Priestess." the woman continued, giving her same saint-like gentle smile she always seemed to wear.

Not long after, Miidori's family stepped up, offering their support. Little by little, the group of supporters grew and grew until a hesitantly unanimous vote claimed that Kagome could care for Inuyasha. The village had put a trust in their guardian, but it was not a omplete trust. Their faith stood upon the blade of a knife, as they say. Any small obstruction could send them toppling over the side to either complete faith, or complete mistrust.

Kagome sighed, smiling around her. But her smile vanished almost immediately as a soft thud was heard. Miidori had completely collasped, she and the young bandit lay in a pile not to far from the closest villagers. Kagome rushed to their side, knelt, gave them a medical once-over, then stood. "Take these two into my home immediately. Mother, if you would please prepare three futons in the main living quarters." The woman nodded dutifully and hurried off to her assigned task. "Jimen-san and Timirei-san, please pick up these two and lay them on two of the futons my mother will prepare." The two men nodded and stooped to obey. Kagome then turned around, calling over her shoulder, "Souta, please fetch a large pail of cool water from the river. Mirani-san and Nigena-san, please come with me." Souta was instantly running toward the storehouse for a pail, and the two called men followed their Priestess over to where Inuyasha lay. She knelt beside him. "This creature's name is Inuyasha. Please carry him into my home as well, and lay him on one of the futons my mother is setting out. Be very gentle with him. He has been through a lot lately." The men nodded and gingerly scooped him up, one holding his legs, the other holding his torso and headed away.

Kagome headed back to the crowd and looked to her grandfather and Miidori's parents. "Jii-chan, Irandi-san-tachi. I am going to gather some medicinal herbs for Okuri-sama and Miidori-chan. I trust you three well. Will you please care for Inuyasha, Okuri-sama, and Miidori-chan until I get back? If Inuyasha awakens before I return, please send word to me immediately for I cannot say what he will do when he comes to. If I do not come soon enough, please tell him that Kikyo waits for him outside the village and that will lead him away from you and toward me."

Miidori's mother raised an eyebrow. "Get him away from us...? Kikyo-sama... are you saying that this creature, this Inuyasha, is dangerous?"

Kagome paused, and blushed. "Well... not exactly, Irandi-san. He will be confused. The conditions of his confines will leave him bitter, confused, and in great pain. In his confusion, he could go a bit out of control. However, if he finds out Kikyo is nearby, he will come for me immediately."

"But Kikyo-sama... would that not put you in danger?" Her grandfather inquired, his voice dripping with concern.

Kagome shook her head. "Don't worry, Jii-chan. I know how to handle one such as him."

The three sighed and nodded. "We will do as you say, Kikyo-sama." Miidori's father answered. They immediately departed for her house.

Kagome sighed and stood where she was for a long moment, looking at the group of departing villagers. She wasn't sure how she had done it, but she had managed to revive Inuyasha and was now once again graced with his presence. A sense of security swept through her. She had once, as she barely recollected, said that there as something about Inuyasha that made it seem that when you were in his presence, nothing could harm you. Perhaps it was his rough look or even his big talk. Whatever it was, the objective of taking down Naraku seemed suddenly less impossible. After that was accomplished, perhaps she could research a way to reverse the damage she had done. Either way, the revival of the half-breed seemed to signify that she was indeed progressing. Up until this point the progress she had achieved, if any, was sluggish. But now there was solid and tangible proof that their efforts weren't for naught.

It suddenly struck Kagome how absurd this world seemed to be making her. She thought back to her conversation with the Irandi's and her grandfather. Had she truly said, "please send word to me immediately for I cannot say what he will do when he comes to?" She was slowly but surely slipping into the method of speech here. Obviously, as it was plainly seen around, the reign of Naraku had prevented the advance of technology. she had noticed that some form of electricity had been invented due to the crude lamps in the huts, but beyond that there was very little. And speech and dress were just as lagged behind as the rest of it. She had seen several unconventional kimonos on a few of the villagers, such as something akin to a t-chirt, but nothing in the way of a skirt or normal-sized jeans. She was faintly aware that these new methods were not only filling her mind, but still they pushed away room in her subconscious that had once belonged to the unaltered world. Once again, she was slowly forgetting what her life once was, and coming to accept the current reality as the only one she could live in. Though the desire still burned in the back of her mind to change the world back to its former state, and that was something, she figured, she would never be rid of. But as for right now, it was better to fix her mistake.

A small and familiar prick in the back of her mind sent her gaze downward to see a small magenta ball of light appear just a few inches off the ground. It morphed into the form of a rather tired looking Dev after a moment, and Kagome stooped to look at her. The magenta faded away and Dev's wings slowed to a stop, dropping her toward the ground. Kagome gasped and her hands shot out to catch her. "Dev? What's wrong?"

Dev shook her head and smiled up at Kagome. "Nothing, Kagome-san. It just took a lot of energy to get Sesshomaru's attention."

Kagome stood and smiled at her. "Well, he came, and he helped. Thank you Dev. You did very well."

Dev rolled half-lidded eyes. "Don't get mushy on me. I'm getting some shut-eye" Her eyes closed and she was asleep within minutes.

Kagome smiled again at the small sprite in her hands. She hadn't planned on returning to the house before leaving on her herb-hunt, but she figured Dev was worth the extra trip. She had done her share.

* * *

Kitty-chan: Whew! Well... that was fun. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. And no confusing talk this time. That was nice. Stay tuned for the next chapter, coming soon! I'll give ya a little preview down here.

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"Why isn't he awake? Last time, he woke up at the scent of my blood. Now he hasn't woken up even after I freed him. Why not?"

* * *

Some movement to her right caught her eye, and she looked down. Her eyes widened to see her silver-haired companion slowly sitting up and batting his eyes at the bright sunlight streaming in the front window.

* * *

Finally, he uttered something that half-shocked, half-excited her.

"Ka... Kagome."

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Well, review! I need reviews! XD Flames accepted. Tell me what you think!  



	7. Awakening! Inuyasha's Confusion

Kitty-chan: Another chapter... whoopee! This is the rest of what I have written at the moment, and the next chapter will most likely be written half by hand and half by computer. But I'm out of school now, and might be a little slower on updates. Hopefully not... but for the next year or so, I'll be looking for things to keep me busy when I'm not working since I'm not darting straight off to college. Hopefully, I'll chose my stories as one of them. Anyway... here's chapter seven. Hope you like it!

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Kagome sighed and brushed Inuyasha's uncontrolled bangs from his eyes, her hand lingering on his cheek. She glanced at Dev, who was snoocing quietly on the excess blankets off to the side. As if to simply keep herself busy, she stood and began mixing some of her herbs in to the cool water to make more of her energy-building drink that was currently working away at Okuri and Miidori's systems. Once she was done mixing, she emptied it into two smaller bowls for when the two awoke. She then filled a cup with a bit of the liquid from one of the bowls and set it beside Dev. At that moment, Dev yawned and sat up. She noticed the drink at her side and promptly ignored it. She wasn't much for herbal medicine. Not only did it rarely work on such a small creature, but it just had a foul taste. She looked at Kagome as she sat beside Inuyasha again and began to brush his cheek again. As if she had already sensed Dev's awakening, Kagome spoke. 

"Why isn't he awake? Last time he woke up at the scent of my blood. Now he hasn't woken up even after I freed him. Why not?"

Dev yawned again. "Last time he was only asleep for 50 years. In this world, he's been asleep ten times that. His body is just taking longer to come back to life. It's natural, don't worry." She chuckled slightly at Kagome's paranoia.

Kagome heaved a sigh, and brushed her hand against his cheek once more. Her body turned at the sound of shifting sheets and a small moan. She scooted over to where Miidori lie. She put her hand on the young girl's head. "How do you feel, Miidori-chan?"

Miidori sat up slightly. "I'm alright, Kikyo-sama." She smiled bravely. "I'm just a little tired."

Kagome smiled warmly, and pushed her back onto the futon. "You did very well, today, Miidori-chan. You were very strong. You'll make a wonderful Kikyo-sama someday." Miidori smiled weakly and closed her eyes to sleep once more.

Kagome shifted over to the dozing Okuri, knowing the bandit probably wasn't asleep. "Okuri-sama?" She whispered, in case he actually was in slumber.

Okuri's eyes slowly opened. "Hai, Kagome-sama." He shivered a bit and took a deep breath.

"How do you feel?" Kagome whispered, removing the cloth from his forehead to soak it with fresh water. She put a free hand to Okuri's head. "Well, your fever has gone down."

Okuri shrugged faintly. "I'll be fine. I'm just tired."

Kagome replaced the cloth and placed her hand over it. "Good. You need your rest, so go back to sleep." Okuri nodded and his eyes shut.

She sighed and looked back to Inuyasha, watching his chest rise and fall slowly. She took a deep breath and wandered back to his side. She stared at his face for a long while, half-expecting his eyes to open. She found herself admiring his face, the beauty of it. She traced her finger along his cheekbone, and down to his lips. For a few seconds, she entertained the thought of brushing her lips against his, but quickly decided against it. _It might wake him._

Her anxiety at his prolonged slumber getting the better of her, she put a few fingers to his forehead, examining his demonic energy. She had to, almost immediately, pull her hand back as her senses were nearly overwhelmed. She stared at his face for a moment before speaking. "Dev! His demonic energy… it's so strong now. What happened? His power is at least triple what it was in the unaltered world… even _with_ Tetsusaiga!"

Dev snuggled deeper into the blankets. "Makes sense. He's been around for 500 years. Why wouldn't he be stronger?"

Kagome frowned at Dev. "What are you talking about? He's been asleep. He's been… dead. How could he get stronger?"

"Even in the unaltered world he became stronger between the time he was sealed and the time that you freed him."

"How does he get stronger when he's dead?" Kagome repeated, arching an eyebrow.

Dev sighed and propped herself up by her elbow, placing her head in her hand. "His body was dead, yes, but his demonic soul was still very much alive. If that much wasn't alive, he wouldn't have woken up when he smelled your blood or when you pulled out the arrow. Over the years that he was asleep, his demonic soul continued to put out energy. But without any real outlet, the energy had nowhere to go but back into his body. The energy would double back and increase his power. It's rather simple, really.

"All sentient things have a spirit. This is generally accepted. However, there is a major difference between the spirit of a demon or sprite, and the spirit of a human. This difference is simply that demons and sprites have an extra piece of spirit, if you will, that most humans do not have. This extra piece of spirit is called an energy store. Demons and sprites are able to access this store and are able to consciously manipulate their energy and it comes out as power. For instance, when Sesshomaru turns from his dog form to his human form, that is simply him regulating the amount of energy flowing through his energy store. When I manipulate time and space, I am simply pulling energy from my energy store and using it outside my body. Now when a human has an energy store, that extra piece of spirit, they become what we call Priests and Priestesses. Priests and Priestesses are simply humans that have access to their own energy store and therefore can release energy in the form of power.

"In Inuyasha's case, his demonic soul constantly put out energy, but since it had nowhere to go, it doubled back into his energy store. Over time, more and more power built up until it forced his energy store to enlarge. His capacity for stored energy is much greater than it was when he was sealed due to 500 years of energy build-up." She took a pause, then continued. "He probably won't have much control over his power though. Just because he has the power, doesn't mean he knows how to use it."

"You said it doubled back in his body? What about the power released from the tree?" Kagome wondered.

"As you've probably noticed, Inuyasha died loving Kikyo, despite how much resentment he had toward the betrayal. his soul could not let that go, even in death, and so his soul kept an "eye" so to speak, on the Kikyo-sama line for these 500 years. Whenever the tree or Kikyo-sama was threatened, his energy store would release some of that stored energy and drive off enemies. At least, that's what I've gathered from the info around here."

Kagome chuckled. "Dangit, Dev. How do you know all this stuff?"

Dev shrugged in a less-than-modest way. "I've been all over the world in several time periods, and I can only estimate that I've been alive for a little over 720 years. I get around." She smiled and snuggled in once again.

Kagome sighed and looked back to Inuyasha. She stayed at his side a few hours more, only leaving to prepare more medicine, before she felt sleep tug heavily at her body. She finally lay her head on Inuyasha's chest and drifted to sleep.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

_She heard the screams._

_"Miroku-sama!"_

_She could feel the wind._

_"Sango-chan!"_

_The air was rank with the smell of blood._

_"Shippo-chan!"_

_Her eyes knew only blackness._

_And suddenly, red._

_She looked up, seeing the limp form of Inuyasha hanging limply from the arrow impaled in his chest, his eyes open and glazed with death. She gasped and ran foreward to grip his kimono. "Inuyasha! Wake up, please! Say something, damnit!" It wasn't like her to swear, but the agony of knowing her wished had caused his hell was pushing her to extents she had never explored before._

_Something cut into her right arm and she clutched it to her chest, releasing Inuyasha and doubling over. She stuffed her arm into the protection of her belly and looked around for the cause. A familiar young face framed by short black hair appeared before her._

_"Miroku-sama?" She whispered. The monk smiled sweetly, then screamed as the poison wracked his body into agonizing seizures. "Miroku-sama!"_

_She was showered with blood from her other side, Though afraid to, she turned to see Sango and Shippo, lying in a bloody heap to the side, their abdomens and throats sliced open. Kirara lay not a few meters away, her tails severed and blood leaking from her frozen mouth, permanently posed in her large form. "Sango-chan! Shippo-chan!" She screamed, afraid to go any closer._

_There was suddenly blood. Pools of it. She had no idea where it came from, but it was filling the area. It began as small pools, then rose in heigth to reach her ankles. She wretched from the smell, then her heart began to thump erratically against her ribcage, her mind rushing into waves of panic. Her heart went into overload as the blood bath reached her hips, and soon consumed her waist._

_Kagome..._

_She opened her mouth, but wasn't sure if she actually screamed. Her voice seemed choked and silent in the waves of panic, some unseen rope tying her vocals shut._

_Kagome..._

_She looked up. A voice?_

_Kagome..._

_Without knowing exactly what she was doing, she shot her hand upward, toward the unseen source of the voice._

_A clawed hand reached out to hers..._

"Hey!"

Kagome's eyes shot open and she sat bolt upright, steadying her frantic breathing. Banishing instantly the dream from her mind, she looked toward the window. It was apparently the next day, for pale white sunlight streamedin the window. She shook her head and put a hand to the side of her face. _Must've dozed off. Yesterday was a long day._

Some movement to her right caught her eye and she looked down. Her eyes widened to see her silver-haired companion slowly sitting up and batting his eyes at the light streaming in the window. He slowly looked around the room until his eyes landed on her. Within a few short moments, several distinct emotions passed across his orange eyes. They began at bleary, then moved to angered, then angered to confused, and finally they took on an odd sort of look that clearly communicated he was making an honest attempt to find out who she was.

Kagome smiled widely, resisting the urge to throw her arms around him. He was one of the few things she remembered of the unaltered world at this point, and she was relieved beyond compare to have not only a familiar contact with her, but one she truly enjoyed.

Then a thought hit her.

Flashback

_She paused again, but continued walking. "Because I am the pre-wish Kagome, I remember what the unaltered world was like, but if I were to meet any of the others… if I were to meet Inuyasha, would he remember me?" There was a sparkled of hope behind Kagome's eyes that made Dev hesitant to answer._

"_No, he wouldn't. But like I said, you won't meet him, or any of the others. He's-!"_

"_- dead. I know." Kagome muttered weakly. "I was just…" Kagome trailed off, looking into the distance. After a few moments, she distractedly finished her sentence, her attention held to that faraway mystery. "… clarifying."_

End Flashback

_He won't know me..._ Her cheerful and smiling countenance remained, but her spirits plummeted. Not only would he not remember her, but all she had done to soften his hardened heart would be undone, making him the unpredictable and violent creature he had been at their first meeting.

He stared at her for a long moment. His eyes working hard at a foreign kind of interpretation, as if his attempt to decipher who he was looking at was mixed with intense curiosity and confusion. "Kikyo?" he whispered. Kagome's smile now wilted. She knew all too well that he would immediately associate her with Kikyo, but hearing him mistake her for the other was still painful. Hearing reference to the one from whom she was supposedly reincarnated had always been, and probably always would be, painful. She was faintly surprised to see rage flash across his eyes, but even that dissipated after a brief moment. "No… you're not Kikyo." Her face went blank as his brow furrowed in concentration.

_He knows I'm not Kikyo, but how…?_ She glanced down to Dev, who seemed to be soundly asleep. Deciding against waking her to ask, she looked back to Inuyasha. She nearly yelped. Inuyasha had reached his clawed fingers toward her face and now touched her cheek, examining her features closely.

Kagome felt anxiety fill her stomach. The first time she had revived Inuyasha, he had done his best to kill her, coming after her for the jewel just recently awakened. She was tempted to pull away to satisfy her concern, but refrained, her trust built in the unaltered world keeping her still on the argument that Inuyasha would never harm her. Her lips parted several times, but no words were ever formed. Her mind couldn't quite come up with a reaction to the current situation. Finally, he uttered something that half shocked, half-excited her.

"Ka… Kagome."

Kagome sat frozen in place for a long time. _How does he… he knows my… he knows I'm…_ Even her mind could not fully comprehend what he had just said.

"I don't know how, but you are Kagome." He removed his hand and sat back, his eyes still scrutinizing her. "I know your scent."

Kagome quickly decided she didn't care how he knew her, she would setting with the fact that he did. In an instant, she had thrown herself into his arms, hanging onto his kimono for dear life. "Inuyasha! I can't believe you remember me! Dev told me you wouldn't be able to remember anything about the unaltered world!"

Inuyasha did not push her away, but did not return her embrace either. _I don't understand. How do I know this girl? A human girl at that… And what the hell is she talking about?_ After a moment of awkward silence, he gently gripped her shoulders and moved her slightly away. "How do I know you? You look almost identical to Kikyo, but how do I know you're not? Who are you?"

Kagome stared at him for another long moment, again not quite sure what to say to the situation. "What do you mean?"

"I don't understand how I know you! I've never seen you before in my life, but I know you are Kagome. And…" He went silent, but his mind continued. _I want to protect you. Somehow… I love you. Why? How can I love someone I've never met before!_ "I don't know you!" He commanded, his eyes wide in anxious confusion.

Kagome didn't speak for a moment. "You know my name, but you don't know me. Why?"

"His soul knows you." Dev answered, apparently awoken by Inuyasha's several outbursts. She stretched and floated up to hover next to Kagome's shoulder. Inuyasha, unsurprisingly, heard nothing, and simply stared at Kagome, attempting to decipher the seemingly unwarranted information.

Kagome looked to Dev slightly, speaking in a whisper. "What does that mean?"

"Though his mind has different memories, his soul remembers all that happened in the unaltered world. His mind and soul have different memories right now, so they aren't quite on the same wavelength. So, he doesn't understand how he knows you." Dev explained, taking a seat on Kagome's shoulder.

Inuyasha seemed to, after a few more moments of staring, give up on attempting to figure the whole issue out, and began to examine his surroundings. "Where am I?"

Kagome looked up and sighed. "You're in my house in the Goshin Boku villages. It's right near the tree where you were sealed."

Inuyasha stared at her for a moment before realization dawned quickly in his eyes. He threw the blankets off his body and stood, his entire body tense. "Does Kikyo still live nearby?" he growled.

"No. Kikyo has died." Kagome answered quietly. "500 years have passed since you were sealed to the tree."

His hands relaxed and he slowly turned to look at her. "500… years? I've been sealed to that damn tree for 500 years!"

Kagome shrugged. "No one was able to free you. The tree eventually grew around you so not only could no one see you, but your power within the tree kept everyone safe. Even if people had known you were in there…" she paused for a grief-laden silence. "They wouldn't have wanted to free you."

Inuyasha's eyebrows came to a point, and a low growl emitted from his throat. After a moment, the noise stopped. The last part of her sentence had caught his attention. She continued. "Eventually, your very existence became a rumor. People claimed that the tree had protective power because it was blessed by Kikyo 500 years ago."

He paused thoughtfully. "But you knew. You knew I was in the tree and even dug me out." Kagome paused and looked down, blushing faintly. "Who are you?"

Kagome paused. Awkward as it would be, she was going to have to introduce herbself. "I am the head priestess of the Goshin Boku villages. My name is as you said, Kagome."

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow, then spoke. "You said before that even if people had known I was in there, they would not have set me free because my power protected them. Why did you free me? Seems to me that would go against your villages wishes."

Kagome looked down. The harsh reality that she had revived him for the main purpose of fighting a war seemed suddenly harsh. At least… that was the only explanation she could offer the villagers. Her own reasons were a bit softer. But letting him know in the least that she was in love with him would most likely freak him out quite a bit. Knowing who she was talking to, she didn't think he would cooperate if she skimped on the details. Despite his normally dense disposition, Inuyasha was a stickler for details when it came to being briefed. Kagome sighed. "In order to tell you that… I have some information for you."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Inuyasha was shocked enough when, to prove the truth of her words, this strange girl had recited the entire affair of the betrayal between Kikyo and himself. But then she had gone on to tell him the cause of the culprit. His excitement was immense.

While under the seal, he had been at the mercy of his subconscious. Nightmares tortured him day after day, with no consciousness to chase them away. To hear that the inner demons which produced these nightmares could possibly be banished with the death of this Naraku was relief almost unrecognizable. There was really little choice but to believe her. How else would she know about issues both personal and long past? His mind registered how absurd her claims were, but he couldn't deny how perfectly natural it felt to believe her. There was something in him that recognized the feeling of being near her.

Kagome finished her story and watched the emotions play across his face. His ears were turned foreword slightly so the fleshy insides faced her, listening to her every word. _He's interested. If he was doubtful, they would be flat to his head._ She felt relieved at her own ability to read him. To the untrained eye, his face displayed little, but to determine his mood or reactions, one merely needed to glance up to the top of his head. After giving him a few pondering moments, she stood. "How about you think over it tonight and tell me your decision tomorrow morning?" She headed to check on Miidori and Okuri when a clawed hand gripped her wrist. She turned to look at him.

"I don't need to think about it." He muttered. "If what you say is true… I will do anything to kill Naraku."

Kagome smiled, her hope renewed. "Thank you, Inuyasha" She knelt next to Okuri and began to adjust his blankets before re-soaking the washcloth on his forehead. Inuyasha clenched his fist behind her. Kagome glanced back at him, her smile entering her eyes. She was comforted by his mannerisms. It reminded her of the unaltered world, of which she was remembering less by the day. She remembered Inuyasha clearly, as he sat right before her, and the holy monk was still vivid, but she remembered all else very little. Things were becoming distorted in her mind as the unaltered world was pushed out to make room for the new. She was snapped from her reverie by Inuyasha's voice.

"And once I've finished him off, I can finally get my hands on the Shikon no Tama."

Kagome hesitated. Was it truly necessary to tell him that the Sacred Jewel no longer existed? She shook her head and turned back to her task. No. She couldn't bear to see the look on his face again as his one last surviving dream was crushed. She couldn't… and for as long as she could stall it, she wouldn't.

Inuyasha looked back to her. "When do we leave?"

Kagome didn't look at him this time. "We'll leave the day after tomorrow. These two need to recover fully. From here we'll head East, following some leads on possible allies there."

Inuyasha growled a familiar complaint. "Why do we need to gain allies? I'll take Naraku down myself."

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Inuyasha, you have no concept of Naraku's power. Not only that, but Naraku has legions of both humans and demons at his command. Even if you had the power to fight Naraku, could you take on all of his loyals as well?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "You don't know anything about me, Wench." He growled. Kagome felt a stab at the back of her mind. "You don't know what kind of power I have."

Kagome sighed. "Trust me, Inuyasha. I know more about you than you know."

"Tch!" He scoffed and stood before vanishing out the door of the hut.

Kagome sighed again, but she held a weak smile. Inuyasha's crude attitude, no matter how unpleasant, was refreshing. It was Inuyasha she was with, and afte fearing him dead since the alteration, he could be as crude as he wanted. She felt somewhat foolish that she was so in love with this creature that she felt that way, but she couldn't help it. Her emotional scale was so out of whack at this point that she felt as if she had very little control over her feelings at all. She shook her head and set herself to remaking the futon Inuyasha had used.

She thought back to her conversation with Inuyasha. The look in his eyes when she told him of the betrayal was forever etched into her mind. A deep sense of regret and pain had filled his eyes, and she had so longed to reach out and comfort him. Was he perhaps still in love with Kikyo? Had his love survived the 500-year span? Considering the happenings in the unaltered world, it was likely. Kagome noted that she had failed to speak up on the fact that Kikyo had followed him in death. That did seem to be the overruling factor in the bond that the two shared and had forever tied them together in the previous world. After all, had he not said, "Kikyo came after me, and gave her life. I's only fair that I repay her with my own life," or something of that nature? Had she purposefully omitted that? Or did she just perhaps innocently figure that it was more then his bleary mind could comprehend at the time? After all, he had just awakened from a 500-year sleep. His overload levels had to be lower than normal. But that selfish part of her still desired to retain those small bits of information that could possibly tilt his soul in her favor. Feelings of hypocrisy floated through her mind. She was to lead demons and humans alike into an army to rise against an all-powerful tyrannt, and here she was, lying to Inuyasha to ensure his feelings for her developed again. She shook her head. _Some Priestess I am…_

"Kagome-san?" Kagome glanced down to Dev. "Something wrong?"

Kagome shook her head. "No. Sorry about that."

Dev gave a sly smile. "He's different isn't he?" Kagome stared at her for a moment, as if asking her meaning. "Inuyasha. He's not the same guy you knew before, is he?"

Kagome smiled remeniscently. "No, actually. He's the same as he was when I first met him; rude, crude, and just an outright jerk."

Dev floated up to place her hands on the bridge of Kagome's nose. "Though, judging by the gooney look on your face, this isn't a problem for you."

Kagome crossed her eyes and chuckled at the sprite. "Maybe not. But you have to understand that I've dealt with this side of him before."

"I figured as much." Dev now leaned an elbow on her nose as if leaning conversationally on a countertop. "You know… you are one of the most lovesick girls I have ever met. And I should know, considering how many places I've been."

Kagome sighed. "Is it that obvious, or are you just picking on me again?"

Dev smiled at her, and looked away, as if finding the rest of the room more interesting at the moment. "Not quite Helen of Troy or Aphrodite calibur, but it's written all over your face."

"Alright. Alright. But keep your mouth shut around him." Kagome rolled her eyes.

Dev's eyebrows raised and she glanced at the doorway where Inuyasha had exited. She paused thoughtfully for a few seconds before she spoke. "So what ou're saying is that he's about as sharp as a bowling ball."

"Oh shut up. Change of subject." She waved Dev away and the sprite flitted over to snuggle into Inuyasha's still-warm pillow. "I do have a question, though."

Dev didn't open her eyes. "What's that?"

"Well… somehow you got Sesshomaru to come help with Inuyasha. How did you do that?"

Dev smiled proudly. "It's actually an interesting story." She chuckled slightly.

"I'll bet. He shouldn't be able to even see you. How did you manage to get his attention?"

"Well… it actually has to do with the Sacred Jewel." She opened her eyes and sat up to tell her story. "What I did to make Sesshomaru hear and see me is something that my kind has been unable to do since the creation of the Sacred Jewel. See… as a time sprite, I pull my life energy and power from the energy around me. In order for me to live and pass through time like I do, I pull energy from what is given off by plants, animals, and even humans."

"Like dream demons." Kagome suggested.

"Sort of. But dream demons' energy primarily comes from sentient beings. Time sprites have a wider range of things we can pull energy from. We can pull energy from sentient and non-sentient things." She paused, then seemed to shift gears. "The Sacred Jewel has similar properties. Like time sprites, the Jewel pulled energy from the things around us, both sentient and non-sentient. So, in a sense, time sprites and the Sacred Jewel have always vied for available energy. Apparently, the Sacred Jewel's pull on energy was stronger than ours, and our energy has been depleted since the Sacred Jewel's existence."

"What does all this have to do with Sesshomaru being able to see you?"

"Well… in theory, if a time sprite focuses enough energy into their body, the energy itself will become visible, and our voice will be projected as well, making us roughly visible and audible to even those without spiritual prowess, in this case, Sesshomaru. When the Sacred Jewel existed, it pulled enough energy from the environment that time sprites could no possibly gather enough energy to do that. It was purely theoretical."

"But now that the Sacred Jewel doesn't exist, more energy is available to you and you were able to gather enough energy to do it." Kagome smiled.

Dev nodded and lay back down, closing her eyes. "Exactly. It was still very tiring. That's why I was so wasted when I came back." She silenced and fell to sleep moments later.

Kagome sat back against the wall, looking out the small window, where she could see Inuyasha examining the tree to which he had been sealed. She sighed. "You are Inuyasha, there is no doubt about that... but are you still the same dependable hanyou I fell in love with?"

"It would seem as though you two had met before, no matter how unlikely that seems."

Kagome's face turned red, and her body gave a small jolt of surprise. She chuckled slightly and looked down at Okuri, the one who had spoken. "Well..." she paused, then turned to him and smiled. "I suppose you could say that."

Okuri looked toward the window, though he was hardly in a position to see through it. "That creature had obviously been in that tree for over half a millenia. How do you know him? how could you have met a creature that has been sealed away for over 500 years?"

Kagome looked bac to the window, her eyes landing only on the top of Inuyasha's head as he sat down beneath the tree, thinking as he often did in the unaltered world. "In another life... you could say." Her eyes remained out the window, taking on a remeniscent quality, as if she were some elder speaking of days long past. "You could say i knew nother Inuyasha."

Okuri smiled slightly and sat up, pulling the cloth from his forehead. "You really aren't from this world, are you?"

Kagome smiled and shook her head. "No, I don't suppose I am."

Okuri placed his hands in his lap and leaned foreward, as if listening to a story. "What's your world like? It has to be better than this one."

Kagome sighed and looked at him. "You'd be surprised. It certainly wasn't perfect... but I did love it... more than I thought... There are a lot of similarities between this world and that one. Demons exist there... but humans aren't in decline like they are here. They are under attack, though. I was part of a group that tried to protect humans."

"Really? A group that benefits humans?" Okuri smiled. "Humans have some protection there?"

Kagome paused as it hit her how aburd it had to be for Okuri to hear of a group that didn't advocate the genocide of human beings. She forced a smile onto her face and smiled at him again. "Yeah... there was a man on it that reminded me a lot of you."

Okuri stared at her for a long moment. "Kagome-sama... you speak in the past tense... why?"

Kagome's breath caught in her throat, and for a moment, she was unable to speak. When she found her voice again, there was a lump in her throat that caused her speech to quiver slightly. "It... it was destroyed." Her voice had rasied about an octave by this point. "And I was sent here."

"Destroyed?" Okuri's smile vanished completely. "How...? How does an entire world disappear."

Kagomenow had tears streamng down her face. "It... it was because of me. i made a mistake... and now... I'm here. And I've done this!" Her hands clenched tight around her ankles and she rested her forehead on her knees.

She suddenly felt a hand on her back and she turned a tear-stained face on the bandit. "Kagome-sama... the destruction of a world can't possibly rest on the shoulders of a single person. You have given hope to the people of this world, which is priceless. What could you have done wrong?"

Kagome looked away again, unable to look at his comforting face anymore. "Naraku is in control because of my mistake."

Okuri was silent for a long time, and when he spoke, she could hear a smile in his voice. "Kagome-sama... Naraku's rise to power started over 500 years ago. It has nothing to do with you."

Kagome shook her head, then looked up to him, sobs now cracking her speech. "Forgive me, Miroku-sama... I didn't listen to you... and see hat I've done...?" She stood and dashed outside to where Inuyasha was, ignoring the looks sent from disapproving villagers. Inuyasha looked up at her as she neared him.

He seemed to notice her tears immediately. Concern hit his orange eyes for a split second, but then vanished to be replaced by fake annoyance. "What's wrong with you?" he demanded gruffly.

She felt a strong pull, stronger than any she had ever felt, to throw her arms around him and cry into his kimono, but not only would sh lose more trust from the villagers, but she knew he would not hold and comfort her as he once would. For this Inuyasha hardly recognized her and barely acknowledged any feelings for her at all. She simply bowed deeply to him, tears falling into the dirt at his feet. 'Forgive me, Inuyasha. I've caused you such pain." Without another word, she turned and headed for the edge of the village.

Inuyasha stared after her for a long moment, standing and ignoring the glares from surrounding villagers. He was used to strange ad cursing looks before. Hell, he had met a few that seemed to bore into him with sympathy. But he had learned to ignore the majority of them. _She looks so much like her. how did I know who she was? How did I even know she wasn't Kikyo. And..._ He looked away from her back and down to the ground. _Why did I want to hold her right now? Why should it matter to me if she's upset? Why the hell do I love her so much!_ He growled and began stomping back toward the house._ And what did she mean by causing me pain? she's the one who freed me._

Frustrated at the questions dancing across his mind, he flipped the curtain away from the hut door with a grunt, entering and stopping when he spotted Okuri. "Who are you?" he inquired.

"Uhh... Miroku Okuri. I'm from a few miles northwest of here. I'm with Kagome-sama for now." he answered, a hint of suspicion in his voice. Inuyasha barely noticed it. "What about you? We don't know much about you besides your name and that you are the creature that gave the Goshin Boku its power."

Inuyasha snorted, and jabbed his thumb at the window. "Goshin Boku? You mean that damned tree out there?" he growled. "That thing's not holy. I was trapped in it for 500 years cause the humans around here figured my power was useful to them."

Okuri growled back at him. "Half the people around here didn't even know you existed. The power of the Goshin Boku, your power, was the only thing protecting them from Naraku. No one thought any living thing could stand up to Naraku's kind of power. No one had any reason to believe that there was someone in the tree."

Inuyasha just scoffed. There was a long pause as the bandit took the Goshin Boku source in. He certainly didn't look like an ordinary man. Even ignoring the small white dog ears on the top of his head, the hip-length silver hair would give him away as something more or less than human. Upon a closer inspection, Okuri could see piercing orange eyes and long fingernails, hardened and sharpened to be as claws. Inuyasha was the first to speak after the break.

"What's wrong with that Kagome girl anyway?"

"What do you mean, what's wrong with her?" Okuri growled.

"She came to me, crying, apologizing for Kami-sama knows what, then took off." He snorted, looking to the window.

Okuri rolled his eyes at his tone and he felt a strong tug of annoyance fill his mind. "Listen… she's been through something really rough, and you ought to show a bit more graditude. Not only did she know you were in the tree, but she went against her entire home village to dig you out. She could've been killed for that."

"Look, you… I don't need some human to give me some stupid guilt trip." He shot back, brandishing his claws slightly.

"I'm not giving you a guilt trip. I'm just saying you should be softer on Kagome-sama." He paused, his anger rising. "And what makes you so comfortable around here. What makes you think that I'm comfortable with your presence. I find it offending that a demon was the source of the Holy Tree's power."

Inuyasha smirked with juvenile amusement, as if he got a kick out of the simple fact that he was annoying the young man. "What's wrong with that? My power too dirty for your holy lands?"

Okuri stood, attempting to portray confidence, but his weakened and shaky legs betrayed him. "Curusai! You insult the tree that held you, but that was the hope of this village!" Inuyasha stared him down. "This place is the only place besides the West that has not been overrun by Naraku! That tree gave these people hope! And to find out that the source of that hope is the thing they fear the most!"

Inuyasha cracked his knuckles. "What would you know about this place, you punk! You people took away my freedom so you could have some false sense of security! Hope stolen from someone else isn't hope at all!" Okuri paused and Inuyasha turned to leave. "That's why I hate humans. So disgusting. Recklessly sacrificing others so just a few can survive for a short time. Then they sacrifice again. They sacrifice their own without thought. You guys are no different from demons." He turned slightly to look at him. "You portray this whole struggle between demons as humans as a fight between good and evil… but I see no good. I only see evil, and you humans are just as much of a problem as demons." He shoved the curtain of the hut away and began to stalk away. "And in case you haven't noticed, I'm not one of Naraku's pawns."

Okuri clenched his fists at his sides out of anger. Not so much that Inuyasha had, in his own mind, disregarded what he had told him about the hope he had brought, but also that he had made his last argument so effectively. He had to admit that when Inuyasha put it as he had, humans really didn't seem too different from demons. He shook his head. That creature was speaking from a biased point of view. Whatever he was, human or demon, he didn't have a clear view of the situation. He was only speaking from one side of the argument.

_So are you._

Okuri nearly hit himself in the head as the thought crossed his mind. He plopped onto the futon and sighed.

"Okuri-sama?"

Okuri looked down at Miidori, who seemed only half-awake, staring up at him with tired eyes. Okuri smiled gently. "How do you feel, Miidori?" He sat up and made his way over to her futon.

"I'm fine." She breathed. She then looked at the door. "That fair-haired man before… was he a demon?"

Okuri leaned his weight back onto his hands. "I honestly don't know, Miidori. He doesn't seem evil enough to be a demon, but he certainly isn't human."

"Well, he couldn't be a demon, right?"

"What makes you say that?" Okuri placed a hand over the cloth on her forehead.

"Well… why would Kagome-sama save a demon?" She paused, then looked to the window again, smiling. "Plus… he has kind eyes."

Okuri was taken aback, thinking to his conversation with the silver-haired creature. Orange piercing eyes. Very deep eyes, no matter how you looked at them. Filled with anger, but the anger was false. Eyes that portrayed fear, regret, pain, and the memories of things he knows he shouldn't have suffered. Eyes that, behind the mask of anger and roughness, have been softened into submission to kindness. "I suppose he does, doesn't he?"

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Kitty-chan: Hey... sorry for the stall in plot, but there were a few things that needed to be explained. The next chapter will have more stuff in it. I didn't write this chapter just to stall for time, mind you. This freaking part took up a huge chunk of my notebook. Anyway... review and See ya! 


	8. Overflowing Power!

Kitty-chan: Another intermediate chapter, but more happens here. I promise. Anyway... sorry this took so long. I've been preoccupied with a few other stories and trying to post for all of them at once... it's tough. XD Anyway... hopefully it won't be too difficult to come up with what happens after this. As I said in the bio, there are a lot of finer details I haven't quite made out yet. > Sorry. Off to the chapter!

I don't own Inuyasha.

There... I said it... happy now?

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_I'm so stupid._ Kagome barated herself. She sat several yards away from the village exit, staring out at the destruction wreaked by Naraku's control. Her eyes focused on a small tree off to the side, standing alone among barren land populated by sparse bushes and smaller plants. The small tree was surviving, but alone, and barely. Similarly, she felt humans were standing alone in a world as demons closed in, threatening to wipe them out. She sighed and rested her forehead on her knees. _Why can't I think more than five minutes ahead? If I had thought for just five minutes about what I was doing…_ She began to sift around with the dirt beside her, moving her head to rest her temple on her knees. She started down at her absently fiddling hand.

A now-familiar prick in the back of her mind warned her of an approaching creature, and without looking, she could tell who it was. She felt him take a seat beside her and there was a long pause. Surprisingly, he was the first to speak.

"So… what's wrong with you? What's with the tears?"

Kagome smiled gently. Inuyasha always did hate crying. At least that hadn't changed. She scrubbed the water from her face and gave him a weary smile. "Oh… don't worry about it."

Inuyasha stared at her for a moment. _But I do for whatever reason._ "Listen… what did you mean before? About causing me pain? You're the one who got me out of that tree. What's going on around here?"

Kagome looked away, across the long expanse of land that stretched away from the village. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes, and seemed to get himself comfortable. "I did have some questions for you, but judging by that little exchange, I doubt I'll get any answers."

Kagome chuckled. "I'm sorry. What questions do you have? It makes sense that you would be a bit confused considering you've been out of it for 500 years."

Inuyasha regarded her oddly for a moment. "Yeah…" he muttered, hesitation in his voice. He then looked away. "For one thing… how do you know who I am? How do you know my name?"

Kagome paused. "Uhh… well…" she chuckled nervously. "That kinda falls into the category of you wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Inuyasha smirked as if he had made a point. "Thought so." He then growled. "Just tell me what's going on, damnit!"

Kagome stared guiltily at him. She then looked down. "Honestly, Inuyasha… I don't really want to. It's not going to make any sense to you. It barely makes sense to me, and I've had a front-row seat to the whole issue."

Inuyasha turned to her now, in his own form of begging her to let him in on recent happenings. Though his words and mannerisms hardly portrayed one who begged. But Kagome knew. She knew him better than anyone and she could tell you, he was begging for information. "Damnit, Kagome… you have information on me and the things that directly affect me! I deserve to know what's going on!"

Kagome looked back to him. "Alright… I'll tell you. But you have to understand that what I'm telling you is true. It's not some story. Everyone else around here thinks me mad."

Inuyasha snorted and rested his chin in his palm, looking away from her again. "I'm beginning to think I'm the one who's going crazy around here."

Kagome smiled and sighed. She had a lot of explaining to do.

Inuyasha stared at her for a long moment. He wasn't quite sure what to make of the information. There was simply too much of it. He was surprised by his own inclination to believe her. Of course, there were a lot of things lately that surprised him. His knowledge of Kagome… his 500-year sleep… hearing of Naraku's role in the betrayal between Kikyo and himself so long ago. Perhaps his mind was getting used to shock and so it took this information better than one would expect. Kagome stared at him for a long moment, hoping to see some reaction out of him. His ears were standing at a somewhat diagonal position to his head, indicating detachment and confusion. Now that he had the ball, he had no idea where to throw it or even what to do with it while it remained in his hands.

Kagome smiled. "I suppose that's a lot of information for one day, huh?"

Inuyasha's ears perked up and he looked back at her, his orange eyes losing their glaze of concentration. "Well… I guess… but what does all that mean? You're trying to get rid of Naraku to fix your mistake? What good is that going to do? I thought you wanted to get the world back to normal."

Kagome sighed. "I do. But… I don't know how to do that. I figured that at least a start would be to get rid of Naraku. At least that way, if there truly is no way to undo what has been done, I will have benefited this place somehow. It will begin on a road toward the way is once was. The way I remember it."

"And you're expecting to take this Naraku person down by yourself?"

Kagome opened her mouth to answer, but Inuyasha's arm shot across her vision, signaling her to stop. She looked up at him, seeing his ears perked to full attention, and his nose twitching at intervals. Kagome pushed his arm down slightly, clearing her vision slightly. "Who's near, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha looked down at her. She certainly knew how to read him, that was for sure. How, he had no idea. There were only two people in his life he had been with long enough for them to read him like she did, but to his knowledge, they were both long dead. So how could she…?

He shook his head and growled deeply. "Cats."

Kagome's eyebrows came to a point and she began looking around for the source, though she couldn't smell it in the first place. "Where?"

"All around. They've surrounded the village." Inuyasha stood, and Kagome stood with him. "There's a lot of them."

Kagome put a hand on his shoulder. "I'll tell the villagers to take cover."

Inuyasha nodded as she took off toward the village.

"You're a new face." Came a scratchy voice. Inuyasha's eyes darted to the side to spot a female Neko demon waltz out from behind a nearby hut. "A dog… now they've resorted to watchdogs." Inuyasha ignored her. "We heard that your Goshin Boku has been destroyed, so we thought we'd move in."

"There's nothing special about that damned tree. Try whatever you like. You're not getting in. Anyone who works for Naraku I've sworn to kill. I take it you fit on that list?"

She sighed. "I see. So the humans have recruited the lowlife now? They're so desperate they'll recruit even filth like a half-demon to try and save themselves."

"Half's more than I need to skin a cat like you."

"Very witty." She moaned. "So..." She paused and cracked a few of her knuckles. "Are we going to do this the hard way, or are you going to step out of the way?"

Inuyasha stared at her, his eyes severe. "Not gonna happen."

She gave a longsuffering sigh. "I see. Well... the hard way it is." She waved to her left and Inuyasha's stance relaxed, his face losing its severity. A neko demon stood several feet to the left of the female, Kagome held firmly in its claws. "Here's how this works." she muttered. "You stand down and your precious Priestess will live."

Inuyasha said nothing, did nothing, staring her down. Part of him screamed to leap in and pull Kagome away, but another part, a larger part, told him to stay still and trust Kagome's ability. The cat demon stared at him for a moment, waiting, and quite expecting a reaction. Inuyasha not giving one seemed to surprise her, for she motioned to the air with her hand. "Hello? Are you going to stand down or not?"

Inuyasha grunted. "No." He stared her down and he could tell that she was hesitant to kill off her only leverage against a half-breed she knew nothing about.

She sighed, figuring she could find more leverage once the village was infiltrated. "Kill her." She commanded her comrade. The male cat demon smiled and held out a clawed hand, as if taunting Inuyasha before the deathblow. Inuyasha stared at him, anxiety buried in his eyes.

The claws came down.

Seconds later, the cat also fell.

Kagome stood above the cat demon, the sudden pulse of energy she had sent from her body causing her to pant slightly. "Thanks for the help, Inuyasha." She grumbled, holding an open hand toward the female leader, her face looking as if she were holding someone at gunpoint. Though to be honest, the amount of damage that one hand could do is about equal with that of a gun.

"Inuyasha?" The female cooed, looking to the half-breed. "Your name is Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha didn't flinch. "Depends on who's asking." Kagome chuckled. He said that a lot in the unaltered world, causing her to relax slightly.

"I see… So you're the troublesome half-demon I've heard about, are you?" She smiled. "I don't envy you, you know. Naraku-sama sure does hate you for some reason. What you did to envoke such anger, I have no idea, but you really pissed him off."

Inuyasha held up a fist. "Pissed _him_ off! He's the one who ruined my life! I never did anything to him, damnit!"

Kagome glanced to Inuyasha. _The only thing you ever did, Inuyasha… was earn Kikyo's favor. Naraku has never let go of that, even if he won't admit it._ She sighed. "Listen… you'd better get out of here right now, woman."

She turned to Kagome. "Oh, I'm not going anywhere. Not for a while. You see… Naraku-sama has offered the greatest reward possible if someone is able to kill Inuyasha; rule over the South." She then looked back at Inuyasha. "Like I said… no idea what you did to piss him off, but it must've been pretty bad."

"Shut up." Inuyasha growled. "I don't care what Naraku says. You're not getting by me."

"Oh you are a glutton for punishment, aren't you?" She chuckled and shook her head. "But have it your way." She pointed at him.

Kagome growled. "Have you forgotten about me?"

The female looked carelessly in her direction for a few seconds before Kagome was thrown to the ground, a disgruntled-looking cat demon standing arrogantly behind her. Inuyasha seemed to hesitate no more for he threw himself at the offending cat demon, tackling him to the ground with a canine roar. Kagome smiled at him. His desire to protect her was still imprinted on his soul.

Kagome couldn't even blink before the enemy cat demon was dead. It almost seemed as if the mere force of Inuyasha's claws had slain the enemy. Kagome sat up and watched as he then took off after the female demon. She simply stepped out of his swinging range, but that didn't seem to do the trick. Hot yellow energy erupted from the ends of his claws and increased his range by about a foot. The blades of energy managed to create a deep gash in the woman's stomach and she stepped backward, holding her arms across her bleeding midsection and staing up at him in surprise. Inuyasha also stumbled backward, holding the hand he had used against her. Kagome raised an eyebrow at him. Blood was dripping through his fingers.

_His hand is bleeding? What just happened? The cat demon couldn't have had time to strike back..._ She stood. "Inuyasha, what happened?"

Inuyasha shook his head. "I dunno." He uncovered his hand and held it up as much for his own viewing as for the others'. Blood was dripping down his hands, originating from the tips of his fingers, as if his nails had been pulled up and cut through. "I tried to do a Sankoptessou... and it felt like it blew up my claws."

Kagome took his hand in her own, disregarding the blood. She then put two fingers to his forehead, leaving two bloody prints. Her eyes widened in realization. _His energy store... Dev said he wouldn't be able to control the amount of energy he's got now._ She looked back to his hand. _His energy store has too much energy to control, so he accidentally released more energy than his claws could handle in his attack._ She looked back to him. Suddenly, the area exploded into action.

Kagome screamed as she was tackled from behind by the female cat demon, claws digging into her shoulderblades.

Inuyasha let loose another canine yell.

The cat demon was thrown away from Kagome, and a loud explosion was heard, flattening Kagome to the ground and causing her to plug her ears. Kagome only knew a few more seconds before she blacked out.

Okuri sat, staring out the window of the hut, sighing. _He's not a demon... but he's not human... is it possible that he's a half-demon? Though what human could possibly make such a detestable union I have no idea. Then again... if what Kagome-sama says is true, he's been around for over 500 years. Perhaps it was more acceptable back then._ He shook his head._ Impossible. Half-demons are the rarest breed on the planet. How could we have found one?_

"Okuri-sama?"

Okuri looked down at Miidori. "Hey, I thought you were sleeping."

Miidori shook her head and sat up. "No... I'm not tired anymore. And Kikyo-sama's medicine is working."

"But she wouldn't want you up and moving around."

"You don't need to worry about me."

Okuri placed a hand on her head. "But we do. You are the future Kikyo-sama. You are the hope of this village. We can't be careless with you."

Miidori ducked away from his hand, smiling. "Either way... where are Kikyo-sama and that fair-haired man?"

Okuri motioned blithely to the doorway. "Kagome-sama left a while ago. Inuyasha came and went just a little bit ago."

"Inuyasha? Is that the fair-haired one?"

Okuri nodded, then tensed as Miidori stood and darted over to the window. "Miidori? What are you doing?"

"Okuri-sama... I sense demons. Familiar demons..."

Okuri stood as well and quickly vacated the hut. He wandered several feet toward the destroyed Goshin Boku, glancing around the area. His brain was tingling. There were definately demons around. Quite a few of them considering how strong the pull in his mind was. He wandered farther toward the tree, and stopped when a flash of orange was seen in his peripheral vision. He growled. "Take cover!" He shouted to any surrounding villagers who happened to be unfortunately out of their homes. "Demons are here! Get inside!"

Panic seemed to ensue almost immediately as the villagers would head immediately for the Goshin Boku, but then would turn away with increased terror toward their homes, realizing suddenly that the tree would no longer protect them. They had mostly vanished into their homes before the first cat demon decided to make his move. Okuri turned just in time to block the rear-aimed attack. He swung his arm outward, catching the enemy in the stomach and sending the momentum back at the cat. The cat yowled and hit the ground, nursing his wound as several other surrounded him. Okuri growled at them, but felt a tug at the bottom of his kimono top. He glanced down to see Miidori standing there, offering to him a sword from the wepons shed. Okuri smiled and took the sword in his hands, aiming the blade at the cats. The cats took their time surrounding him, inching their way into a circle by sidling sideways until they encompassed him. Okuri's green eyes darted around, looking for movement anywhere, trying to find the cat that would move first. It was not a single cat that jumped at him, but three, all attempting to overpower him with their numbers.

Okuri made one horizontal slash at about waist level, pumping energy through the blade. There was a burst of blue power expelled from the blade, sending the enemies flying. Okuri brought the blade back to his front, staring at the nearby emenies.

"Spiritual energy, huh? Not too many humans left have that kind of power." The wounded one smirked.

"I'm more unusual than you think. Leave this village, or you will be made to leave." He brandished the sword slightly in an effort to scare them off. They showed no signs of intimidation.

"Silly little human." he chuckled. "What makes you so sure you can make us leave?"

"This." Okuri held out his gloved right hand, letting the blade in his left hand fall to his side.

The group seemed to take a sudden and slight step backward. The one who had spoken before growled. "Miroku Okuri, I take it?"

"You got that right. Now get out. Or would you prefer to be sucked into oblivion?" He growled.

It seemed that Okuri need not have done anything for just as he spoke, a scream echoed behind him, somewhere most likely at the edge of the village. It was only seconds later that a canine roar shot through the air and something akin to an explosion deafened him and a rush of energy like a gale knocked him off his feet. Miidori landed next to him, grabbing onto his arm and holding tightly as wind continued to come from out of nowhere. Huts creaked with the stress put on by the wind and the cat demons began yowling before dashing away from the area. Okuri pulled Miidori close to his body and held her there, hoping to shield her from the winds, whatever they happened to be. His mind was swimming, as if the wind had some mental effect on him. He glanced down to see that Miidori had finally passed out. He felt his consciousness fleeing as well, but he held on with sudden tenacity.

It seemed an eternity before the winds died down, though in truth, it couldn't have been more than a minute or so. Okuri blearily sat up, his vision swimming and his head reeling, causing his upper body to swagger slightly. He glanced around, seeing that the huts had remained, and people were beginning to crawl cautiously from their homes, searching for a source of the winds or even the one who had driven off the enemies. All across the village grounds were long scars, lines dug into the earth by the winds. Feeling rather anxious, Okuri's senses wound about the village, looking for Kagome's energy. He scooped Miidori into his arms as he scanned, and nearly dropped her when he finally found it. Nearly half a mile from the edge of the village she was... and her energy was severely weak. He stopped a nearby man and plopped Miidori into his arms. "To-san... take her to Kikyo-sama's home, please. Lay her down and don't move her until I come back."

From there, Okuri made a beeline from the center of the village toward where he sensed Kagome. When he reached her, he stopped at the sight. The bodies of at least five cat demons lay around the area. Two of which he knew were dead. Two more were shakily getting to their feet, and when they saw Okuri they quickly took off in the opposite direction. The last cat demon, as Okuri examined her, was dead at this point, though there didn't seem to be any scratches on her. Kagome lay beneath this female, and Okuri quickly shoved away the cat to reach the unconscious Kagome. He gently rolled her over onto her back and gave her a onceover. Aside from the small traces of blood on her shoulders, she didn't seem to be injured. Simply unconscious. His eyes caught sight of the ground as he stooped even further. The gouges on the ground were shallower here than in the village, but they were also narrower, as if leading toward a point. Following the narrowing lines, his eyes wandered until the found the epicenter of the lines.

The fair-haired creature Kagome had awakened lay unconscious on the ground, his clothes full of lacerations, but his skin pale and healthy, no blood on him save for that on his right hand. From what, Okuri had no idea, nor did he care. All he knew was that Inuyasha was at the very center of the gouges in the earth. This creature was somehow responsible. He growled and shook Kagome gently. "Kagome-sama... Kagome-sama! Wake up!" She did not stir. Giving a foul glare in Inuyasha's direction, he scooped Kagome into his arms and stood as several villagers approached and examined the scene, though they did not have the interpreting eye as Okuri did.

"My Lord Okuri... what has happened?" One woman inquired. Her eyes seemed to dialate as she saw Kagome's state. "And what has happened to our Kikyo-sama!"

Okuri moved backward. "She is alright, merely unconscious." He looked up to the few men that had approached. "You two!" They stood at attention. "Gather him up and bring him to Kikyo-sama's home immeidately. But do not care for him yet. I will do that myself." A growl was heard behind his voice and the men jumped to obey. He took off toward the hut once more. "Hang in there, Kagome-sama."

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Kitty-chan: There... must... sleep... review please. 


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